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JOSHUA       SOULE 


METHODIST     FOUNDERS'     SERIES 

EDITED   BY 

BISHOP    WARREN    A.    CANDLER 


LIFE  OF  JOSHUA  SOULE 


By   HORACE  M.    DU   BOSE,   D.D. 

Author  of  Francis  Asbury  :  A  Biographical  Study 


NASHVILLE,   TENN. 

DALLAS,  TEX.;   RICHMOND,  VA. 

PUBLISHING    HOUSI-    Of"    TjIF    m'     E.    CHURCH,    SOUTH 

S,MiT-I   *■  IaMAR,  AGENTS 
IQl6 


Copyright,  I911* 

BY 

Smith  &  Lamar. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.  Page 

The  Sea  King  Race 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
"Come  and  See" 24 

CHAPTER  III. 
Among  the  Prophets 38 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Methodist  Proconsul 57 

CHAPTER  V. 
Writing  the  Constitution 71 

CHAPTER  VI. 
An  Intercalary  Period 89 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Counseling  the  Rulers 102 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  Manifold  Stewardship 114 

CHAPTER  IX. 
An  Effective  Protest 129 

CHAPTER  X. 
Doubly  Called 152 

(3) 


4  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

CHAPTER  XI.  Page. 

Four  Times  Four 170 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old 192 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Where  Two  Seas  Met 208 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
Cavalier  and  Puritan 233 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  Master  in  Israel 258 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Evening  Bell 273 


THE  AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

The  illustrious  man  whose  life  story  is  written 
through  the  pages  of  this  volume  expired  on  March  6, 
1867,  now  somewhat  more  than  three  and  forty  years 
ago.  There  has  been  no  time  since  his  death  that  his 
biography  was  not  a  desideratum.  As  a  testimony  to 
the  truth  and  power  of  Christianity,  the  orderly  record 
of  such  a  life  could  not  but  have  a  large  use.  The  sec- 
ular community  is  entitled  to  be  put  in  possession  of 
the  facts  attending  the  manifestation  of  so  marked  a 
personality.  The  inspirational  value  of  his  example  to 
young  men  of  serious  moods  and  living  ideals  is  too 
considerable  to  be  determined  by  the  ordinary  means  of 
reckoning.  To  the  great  religious  body  with  which  he 
was  identified — a  cardinal  and  ever-expanding  force  in 
the  life  of  the  republic — the  record  of  his  words  and 
choosings  is  of  surpassing  significance.  In  his  proper 
and  historic  person  he  represents  a  large  element  of 
the  past  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  the  South  and  is  a 
deathless  pledge  of  the  purposefulness  and  sincerity  of 
its  future.  Nor  is  this  view  of  the  serviceableness  of 
the  book  of  his  deeds  a  recent  discovery;  it  is  a  view 
that  has  been  held  since  the  day  on  which  he  was 
caught  away  from  the  sight  of  his  people. 

Why,  then, has  his  story  remained  so  long  unwritten? 
Nobody  is  better  qualified  than  this  writer  to  say  that 
the  august  subject  itself  is  one  calculated  to  deter  the 
most  confident,  nor  would  this  pen  have  attempted  on 
its  own  initiative  a  theme  so  high ;  only  in  obedience 
to  an  official  command  has  it  been  dipped   in  these 

(s) 


6  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

ethereal  fires.  As  the  reader  pursues  the  narrative 
through  its  course  of  nearly  a  century,  other  reasons 
why  this  service  was  not  undertaken  by  an  earlier  bi- 
ographer will  appear.  It  is  not  necessary  that  these 
reasons  be  mentioned  here.  But  perhaps  the  chief  de- 
terrent for  these  nearly  fifty  years  past  has  been  the 
ever-remembered  interdict  which  the  great  rabbi  him- 
self published  to  posterity.  Stronger  than  the  senti- 
ment of  a  whole  nation,  stronger  than  its  wish  and 
judgment  as  to  what  is  fit,  have  been  the  words  which 
guard  in  their  provincial  rest  the  bones  of  the  great 
Shakespeare.  In  his  climacteric  utterance  before  the 
General  Conference  of  1844 — an  utterance  whose  force 
was  to  stamp  meaning  and  potency  upon  an  epoch  now 
but  fairly  begun — Bishop  Soule  said :  "I  want  no  man 
to  write  my  epitaph.  I  will  write  it  myself.  I  want 
no  man  to  write  and  publish  my  life.  I  will  do  that 
myself  so  far  as  I  think  it  may  be  necessary  for  the  in- 
terests of  posterity  or  for  the  benefit  of  the  Church  of 
God."  Bold  indeed  had  been  the  contemporary  or  near 
contemporary  who  could  so  far  construe  that  injunc- 
tion into  the  fine  frenzy  of  a  moment  of  haste  as  to  en- 
ter unauthorized  upon  an  ordering  of  the  deeds  and 
days  of  that  self-administered  life.  But  there  came  a 
time  when,  under  the  urgency  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence, Bishop  Soule  so  far  modified  the  terms  of  his  in- 
terdict as  to  consent  to  have  his  story  told  as  a  side 
light  to  that  of  his  long-departed  coadjutor,  Bishop 
McKendree.  When,  however,  the  biographer  elect  fal- 
tered before  the  uninitiated  task,  he,  for  his  part  and 
with  unconcealed  satisfaction,  canceled  the  obligation, 
leaving  the  injunction  undissolved. 


The  Author  s  Preface.  7 

But  the  time  has  come,  lest  much  fair  fruit  of  truth 
and  faith,  much  grace  and  loyalty  and  courage,  much 
glory  of  Christly  manhood  perish  in  oblivion — the  time 
has  come  that  the  details  of  this  life,  so  far  as  they  can 
be  recovered,  should  be  set  in  orderly  array.  This  I 
have  sought  with  industry,  patience,  and,  I  trust,  a  be- 
coming reverence  to  do ;  and  I  have  been  at  almost  ev- 
ery stage  of  my  investigation  pleased  to  find  that  the 
materials  to  be  commanded  were  more  abundant  than 
I  had  been  led  to  expect.  Some  of  the  facts  and  doc- 
uments which  I  have  been  able  to  retrieve  from  immi- 
nent oblivion  and  introduce  into  this  narrative  as  parts 
of  its  vital  substance  are  of  the  greatest  value  to  the 
Church,  and  I  confidently  believe  will  be  of  lasting  in- 
terest to  the  students  of  Methodist  history.  The 
Church  whose  servant  I  have  humbly  conceived  myself 
to  be  in  an  especial  sense  in  this  work  must  find  in  the 
history  of  its  greatest  Bishop,  though  but  too  imper- 
fectly written  here,  a  character  the  completeness  of 
whose  self-confirmatory  testimony  has  been  but  half 
suspected,  as  also  an  incentive  that  can  but  largely  af- 
fect its  future  plans  and  spirit. 

Again  protesting  a  sense  of  insufficiency  that  has 
burdened  me  through  all  the  months  in  which  I  have 
been  employed  in  this  work,  I  submit  it  to  the  judgment 
of  my  brethren  and  to  the  household  of  the  people 
called  Methodists  and,  indeed,  to  those  of  every  house- 
hold who  seek  for  that  which  is  kingly  in  human  flesh. 

H.  M.  Du  Bose. 

April  15,  1910. 


LIFE  OF  JOSHUA  SOULE. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Sea  King  Race. 

Heraldries  in  general  are  assets  of  doubtful  ap- 
praisement, but  are  not  without  consideration,  even  in 
republics.  The  disposition  to  improvise  an  ancestry, 
or  else  to  improve  the  one  in  hand  until  it  reaches  a  de- 
sired rank,  is  so  nearly  universal  that  one  is  justified  in 
counting  it  a  human  trait.  America,  no  less  than  the 
Old  World,  has  its  points  of  starting  out  in  this  matter. 
Legion  is  the  name  of  the  genealogical  romances  that 
refer  to  the  stocks  of  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Cavaliers, 
and  not  without  temptation  and  reason.  Rugged,  hu- 
manlike, and  yet  unworldly  on  the  one  part  and  high- 
born, humanlike,  and  honor-loving  on  the  other  were 
those  Plymouth  and  Virginia  forbears  who  verily  did 
begin  to  people  the  wilderness  and  the  lines  of  whose 
descendants  run  to-day  through  the  augmenting  Amer- 
ican multitudes  like  veins  of  silver  through  the  rocks. 

Amongst  the  names  of  "the  forty-one  male  passen- 
gers and  heads  of  families"  that  came  over  in  the  May- 
flower appears  that  of  George  Soule,  as  may  be  seen 
by  any  one  who  consults  the  list  of  those  worthies  pre- 
served at  Plymouth.  From  this  George  Soule  descend- 
ed a  numerous  progeny  represented  not  only  in  many 
parts  of  New  England,  but  in  almost  every  section  of 
the  republic.    The  individuals  of  this  descent  are  said 

(9) 


10  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

to  be  marked  everywhere  by  a  striking  family  likeness, 
the  persistence  of  some  far-off  ethnic  type.  Bishop 
Joshua  Soule  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Pilgrim 
father.  The  village  in  the  low-lying  shore  lands  of 
Maine  where  the  great  Methodist  leader  was  born  was 
scarcely  two  days'  sail  from  the  sandy  beach  where  the 
feet  of  his  Pilgrim  ancestor  first  touched  the  soil  of 
America. 

The  early  New  England  race  of  Soules  were  sea 
kings — skippers  of  whaling  and  fishing  vessels  or 
masters  of  merchant  ships  that  braved  the  mid- At- 
lantic. The  second  generation  settled  about  the  shores 
of  Martha's  Vineyard  and  Nantucket  Island,  in  the 
open  face  of  the  surf.  They  took  to  the  sea  as  by  in- 
stinct. The  spray  was  in  their  hair,  and  the  salt  was 
in  their  blood.  The  deep  was  their  affinity.  Their  very 
virtues  were  oceanlike — resistless,  unconfined.  Cour- 
age and  candor  were  in  their  hearts.  On  the  sea  they 
welcomed  the  storm,  and  on  the  land  they  turned  not 
back  from  any  purpose  or  enterprise. 

The  persistence  of  the  seafaring  life  in  the  choice  of 
their  generations  was  not  fortuity,  nor  is  the  reference 
of  their  physical  and  temperamental  qualities  to  the 
blood  and  heredity  of  the  sea  kings  either  fanciful  or 
accommodated.  The  Soules  of  both  the  South  of  Scot- 
land and  North  of  England,  dwellers  about  the  Tweed, 
as  well  as  those  of  France,  were  Normans  of  the  Nor- 
mans. Their  ancestral  blood  ran  red  in  the  veins  of 
those  viking  lords  through  whose  prowess  Rollo,  the 
Norwegian,  in  the  tenth  century  established  himself  on 
the  northern  shores  of  France.  From  Rollo  and  his 
vikings  were  descended  those  mighty  dukes  and  their 


The  Sea  King  Race.  n 

feudal  lords  who  conquered  England  and  gave  to  it 
new  blood  and  the  capacity  for  a  new  faith.  It  was 
from  the  midriff  of  one  of  Rollo's  Vikings  that  the 
race  of  the  Soules  was  sprung.  The  love  of  the  sea 
and  its  mysteries  and  the  longing  for  lands  unknown 
which  enticed  to  adventure  the  pagan  sires  enticed  their 
Christian  sons  to  seek  in  many  lands  the  goal  of  liberty 
and  freedom  of  thought. 

The  very  name  of  Soule  is  an  echo  of  the  sagas,  new 
and  old.  Its  root  is  the  true  Norse  word  sjo,  or  so,  the 
equivalent  of  the  English  sea,  "the  moving,  restless 
one,"  to  which  root  has  also  been  conjecturally  referred 
the  English  word  soul.  Here  is  a  lineage  that  loses 
itself  amongst  the  sons  of  Woden,  a  race  tree  as  an- 
cient and  mysterious  as  Ygdrasil  itself. 

As  to  the  true  spelling  and  pronunciation  of  the 
name,  there  was  confusion  even  in  England  just  before 
the  Cromwellian  period.  The  spelling  on  the  Plymouth 
list  is  Sozvle.  In  France  the  name  is  a  word  of  two 
syllables  and  accented  on  the  final  letter.  At  an  early 
time  in  Normandy  the  name  was  spelled  Soidis,  which 
was  no  doubt  the  original  form ;  but  to-day  it  is  met  in 
the  capital  and  other  cities  about  the  Seine  as  Soule. 
A  brother  of  the  Bishop,  who  removed  from  New  En- 
gland to  the  West  in  advance  of  his  more  distinguished 
kinsman,  replaced  the  Gallic  accent,  and  his  descend- 
ants continue  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  Soule.  The 
Bishop  in  his  later  years  was  known  to  be  sensitive  con- 
cerning this  reversion  to  precedent,  and  stoutly  insist- 
ed that,  so  far  as  regarded  his  own  name,  the  Plymouth 
rule  of  pronunciation  should  apply. 

In  Stubbs's   "Chronicle  of  the  Reigns  of  Edward 


12  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

First  and  Edward  Second"  is  given  a  particular  ac- 
count of  Sir  John  Soulis,  "who  belonged  to  one  of 
those  Anglo-Norman  families  who  settled  in  Scotland 
in  the  reign  of  Malcolm  III."  This  thirteenth  century 
link  in  the  chain  of  the  modern  Bishop's  family  was 
cast  in  a  rude  but  heroic  mold.  He  was  the  compeer 
and  accomplice  of  the  Baliols,  the  Bruces,  the  Lords  of 
Hastings  and  their  great  clan  barons,  who  in  the 
thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  played  between  the 
kings  of  England  and  France  the  games  of  diplomacy 
and  war,  with  the  crown  and  kingdom  of  Scotland  as 
a  stake.  By  turns  Sir  John  was  a  diplomat  and  a  sol- 
dier of  fortune ;  and  not  a  few  were  the  freebooting 
enterprises  which  he  undertook  along  the  border  and 
on  the  seas,  thus  showing  himself  to  be  a  veritable 
viking  of  the  later  age.  Though  a  natural  ally  of  the 
Scottish  king,  John  Baliol,  he  was  sometimes  in  the 
employ  of  the  English  sovereign  Edward  L,  and  yet 
at  other  times  on  missions  for  the  king  of  France; 
but  he  habitually  sought  those  enterprises  which  had  in 
them  the  elements  of  adventure  and  daring.  Appoint- 
ed by  King  John  to  be  coguardian  with  John  Comyn, 
of  Scotland,  while  the  king  was  in  exile  of  war,  he  as- 
sumed all  but  regal  power  and  began  to  treat  with  the 
court  of  Rome  against  the  English.  To  further  his  de- 
signs he  took  the  sea  on  an  embassy  to  France,  and 
soon  the  ships  of  England  were  scouring  the  Channel 
in  search  of  him  and  his  companions.  He  was  thus 
for  a  time  the  disturber,  if  not  the  dictator,  of  Europe. 
Though  baffled  in  the  effort  to  realize  his  vast  schemes, 
the  latent  Norse  instinct  of  his  nature  led  him  to  con- 
tinue the  feudatory  strife  along  the  Scottish  border. 


The  Sea  King  Race.  13 

Later  his  name  became  terrible  as  a  foeman  amongst 
the  inhabitants  of  the  English  shires.  Finally  he  joined 
himself  to  Edward  Bruce,  a  younger  brother  of  King 
Robert  Bruce,  who  early  in  the  fourteenth  century  led 
a  sea  expedition  to  Ireland  and  had  himself  proclaimed 
king  in  the  north  of  that  island.  In  a  great  battle  at 
Dundalk,  which  recalled  "the  last  great  battle"  of  Ar- 
thur with  the  Picts  in  Cornwall,  the  prince  and  his  Nor- 
man ally  perished  side  by  side. 

Such  was  the  militant  human  stuff,  as  here  glimpsed, 
which  under  Puritan  tutelage  helped  to  make  effective 
the  challenge  of  civilization  to  the  American  wilder- 
ness and  which  also  contributed  to  swell  the  ranks  of 
the  Ironsides  of  Cromwell  in  the  contest  with  tyranny. 

In  George  Soule,  the  Mayflower  Pilgrim,  Celtic 
sturdiness  mingled  with  the  passion  and  restlessness  of 
the  men  of  the  fiords.  Behind  him  lay  a  long  family 
and  racial  history  of  which  he  recked  nothing,  but 
from  whose  vital  drifts  were  fed  the  enthusiasm  and 
purpose  which  made  both  him  and  his  later  son  im- 
mortal in  the  New  World.  The  extraordinary  person- 
ality of  Joshua  Soule,  especially  as  expressed  in  his 
temperamental  habits  and  intellectual  processes,  is  un- 
derstandable only  in  the  light  of  his  racial  descent. 
Greatness  does  not  always  succeed  greatness  from  sire 
to  son,  but  greatness  of  mind  and  spirit,  as  also  that 
ethereal  fiber  so  nearly  mind  and  spirit,  invariably 
spring  from  ancestral  greatness,  near  or  remote.  Like 
only  can  beget  like. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  early  descendants  of  George 
Soule  drifted  southward  from  the  first  Pilgrim  settle- 
ment at  Plymouth  to  the  region  of  Cape  Cod,  Martha's 


14  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

I 

Vineyard,  and  Nantucket,  which  were  the  seats  of  the 
early  New  England  fisheries.  It  was  from  this  section 
of  Massachusetts  that  the  first  white  population  of 
Maine  was  chiefly  drawn,  and  thus  is  explained  the 
presence  of  the  Soules  amongst  the  hardy  and  adven- 
turous pioneer  settlers  of  the  Pine  Tree  State.  Maine 
was  from  the  beginning  the  most  romantic,  as  it  was 
the  most  backward  in  development,  of  all  the  divi- 
sions of  the  English  colonial  coastwise  territory  in 
North  America.  The  early  explorers  visited  its  shores. 
Corte  Real,  in  1501,  more  than  a  century  before  the 
settlements  made  at  Jamestown  and  Plymouth,  made  a 
map  of  its  coast  and  islands.  Sir  John  Hawkins  and 
other  scarcely  less  renowned  sea  rovers  cruised  in  the 
waters  of  its  bay.  The  English  and  the  French  vied 
with  each  other  during  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  in  efforts  to  secure  control  of  the  region 
through  colonization.  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  lost  his 
life  in  an  enterprise  meant  to  acquire  it  for  the  English 
crown  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth.  Mount  Desert  Island, 
with  its  towering  coasts  and  its  nests  of  inland  peaks, 
enticed  the  French  Jesuits,  who  planted  a  community 
there  in  1613,  but  who  were  shortly  afterwards  eject- 
ed by  the  English.  Thus  the  land  remained  in  Prot- 
estant hands. 

In  1677  the  colonial  government  of  Massachusetts 
bought  up  the  various  royal  titles  to  lands  in  the  Maine 
country  and  made  it  a  tributary  of  the  colony  under  the 
name  of  the  "Province  of  Maine."  From  that  time,  or 
as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Massachusetts  began  to  give  from  her  own  too  sparse 
populations  handfuls  of  settlers  for  the  indented  coasts 


The  Sea  King  Race.  15 

and  narrow  valleys  of  the  new  territory.  As  before 
seen,  these  immigrants  were  chiefly  from  the  southeast 
of  the  old  colony,  and  were  the  very  flower  of  the 
Puritan  stock. 

Captain  Joshua  Soule,  the  father  of  Bishop  Soule, 
was  bred  to  the  life  of  a  seaman,  being  first  a  common 
sailor,  then  the  master  of  a  whaler,  and  later  the  chief 
officer  of  a  merchant  ship.  His  vessel  seems  to  have 
been,  like  most  of  the  craft  of  the  times,  a  rover,  sail- 
ing to  and  fro  and  from  such  points  as  offered  the 
readiest  cargoes.  His  range  was  from  the  coasts  of 
his  own  country  to  the  Carolinas  and  the  Bahamas, 
with  possibly  a  rare  visit  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the 
Atlantic.  Nevertheless,  he  had  his  homing  times,  and 
often  enjoyed  long  intervals  on  land.  He  had  married 
and  early  established  a  home  at  Bristol,  on  the  coast  of 
Maine,  where  his  fifth  son,  the  future  bishop,  was  born 
on  August  1,  1 78 1,  just  as  the  tide  of  victory  was  turn- 
ing toward  the  American  patriots  in  their  struggle  for 
independence. 

In  addition  to  the  Bristol  home,  Captain  Soule  had, 
while  yet  engaged  in  seafaring  pursuits,  acquired  a 
farm,  or  tract  of  virgin  land,  at  Avon,  a  small  settle- 
ment on  the  Sandy  River,  within  the  eastern  reaches  of 
the  Province  of  Maine.  It  does  not  appear  that  this 
land  was  originally  secured  with  a  view  to  making  it 
a  homestead,  but  one  of  those  providences  by  which 
the  plans  and  oversight  of  Heaven  are  manifested 
caused  the  sea  captain  to  turn  to  it  as  at  once  an  asy- 
lum and  a  means  of  subsistence. 

But  for  the  Revolutionary  War  he  would  in  all  like- 
lihood have  continued  to  be  a  sea  dog  to  the  end  of  his 


16  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

days.  The  letters  of  marque  granted  by  Great  Brit- 
ain during  the  war  with  her  colonies  had  the  effect  of 
driving  the  infant  commerce  of  America  from  the  seas. 
As  early  as  1775  the  British  fleet  attacked  and  de- 
stroyed Portland  and  Falmouth,  the  principal  ports  of 
Maine,  and  thus  practically  blockaded  the  entire  coast. 
During  this  naval  foray  the  ship  of  Captain  Soule  was 
either  captured  or  destroyed  or  else  rendered  worth- 
less, and  thus  his  seafaring  days  ended.  He  very  soon 
thereafter  formed  the  purpose  of  removing  himself  and 
his  family  to  the  virgin  estate  which  he  had  acquired 
in  the  Sandy  Valley,  and  there  become  a  tiller  of  the 
soil. 

The  radical  character  of  that  turn  of  fortune  was 
truly  suggestive  of  an  active  and  instant  providence, 
could  the  matter-of-fact  old  seaman  have  read  it  out. 
Perhaps  he  did  not  desire  to  read  it  out :  his  faith  was 
centered  in  the  Calvinism  of  Calvin,  the  fatalism  of 
unsearchable  decrees.  He  had  eaten  of  that  bread  too 
long  to  inquire  curiously  of  Providence.  By  his  faith 
he  walked;  and  it  was  well  that  he  could  so  walk,  for 
there  was  in  that  hard  day  no  chance  that  another 
might  break  on  his  path. 

But  whatever  their  interpretation  of  the  fortune 
compelling  their  journey  northward  toward  a  new  and 
unfamiliar  home,  the  movers  found  the  way  a  pleasant 
one.  It  led  along  by  the  broad-waved  lower  Kenne- 
bec into  the  birch-darkened  highlands,  and  by  the 
shores  of  glassy  and  picturesque  lakes  until  they 
reached  their  land  of  promise  far  away  from  the  sea 
and  the  low-lying  shores  they  had  known.  It  may  be 
that  this  call  of  the  sea  captain  to  the  virgin  wild  lost 


The  Sea  King  Race.  17 

to  the  sea,  in  the  person  of  his  youngest  son,  a  hearty 
mariner  and  possibly  a  future  admiral ;  but  it  gave  to 
the  Church  an  illustrious  leader  and  bishop. 

Joshua  and  Mary  Soule,  the  parents  of  Bishop  Soule, 
were  both  religious,  having  been  brought  up  in  the 
strict  Presbyterian  doctrine.  In  the  spirit  and  letter 
of  their  devotion  they  reproduced  the  religious  life  of 
their  Scottish  border  ancestry.  The  Rev.  Mr.  McLain, 
the  pastor  under  whose  care  they  were  for  a  long  while, 
was  a  man  who,  it  seems  from  the  little  we  know  of 
him,  was  calculated  to  confirm  them  in  the  fundamen- 
tals of  the  faith  of  the  Covenanters.  Their  Calvinism 
may  even  have  been  accentuated  by  the  primitive  and 
isolated  conditions  of  their  life  in  the  new  lands  of 
Maine,  where  their  sons — and  particularly  the  young- 
est— grew  from  childhood  to  youth.  A  strict  family 
discipline  was  maintained.  Sabbath-keeping,  family 
prayers,  and  catechism-learning  were  the  more  promi- 
nent outward  tests  of  the  faith  in  which  the  sea 
captain  and  his  wife  sought  to  rear  their  sons.  These 
were  not  different  from  the  tests  demanded  by  the 
more  prevalent  school  of  Calvinism,  represented  in 
the  Congregational  Churches  about  them.  The  con- 
formity and  ethical  order  expressed  by  this  rote  chal- 
lenged the  respect  of  the  world,  if  it  did  not  compel 
to  love  and  obedience. 

Young  Joshua  was  the  child  of  his  parents,  quiet, 
determined,  and  religious  by  instinct  and  in  the  abso- 
lute commitment  of  his  thoughts.  They  taught  him  to 
fear  the  Lord,  and  he  responded  to  their  teaching. 
They  emphasized  the  literal  call  which  faith  made  upon 
that  fear,  and  he  accepted  the  emphasis.  The  credal 
2 


1 8  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

picture  of  the  divine  sovereignty  all  but  shut  out  from 
his  childish  eyes  the  face  of  the  Father.  But  the  fear 
which  bulked  through  his  religious  thoughts  was  a  re- 
straining fear — doubly  so:  it  not  only  restrained  from 
active  disobedience,  but  it  restrained  the  emotions  and 
those  subliminal  feelings  whose  healthy  play  is  so  nec- 
essary to  the  experiences  of  true  godliness.  If  it  did 
not  "cast  out"  perfect  love,  it  at  least  made  it  impos- 
sible. It  saved  from  the  letter  of  sin,  but  it  did  not  de- 
liver into  the  grace  of  rejoicing. 

The  Soule  home  in  the  Avon  settlement,  which  was 
in  an  unfurnished  condition  when  the  family  removed 
to  it  in  the  autumn  of  1781,  was  a  plain  structure,  pro- 
vided with  only  the  simplest  comforts ;  but  the  person- 
alities of  Captain  Soule  and  his  wife  gave  it  an  excep- 
tional importance  in  the  whole  region.  It  was  a  home 
for  the  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  faith,  who  kept 
a  more  or  less  constant  oversight  of  the  valley  settle- 
ments. Occasionally  they  preached  in  the  Soule  home, 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  they  ever  organized  a  con- 
gregation in  those  parts.  Not  only  the  rustic  son  of 
the  ex-sea  captain,  but  the  whole  land  about  awaited  the 
coming  of  one  who  should  cry  in  the  wilderness  an  ef- 
fectual call. 

More  primitive  conditions  than  those  which  sur- 
rounded the  settlers  at  Avon  could  not  well  be  imag- 
ined. Only  ten  years  before  the  arrival  of  the  Soules 
the  first  plowshare  had  been  let  into  the  soil.  The 
place  was  remote,  and  recruits  had  come  in  slowly. 
Markets  were  distant,  and  in  such  as  could  be  reached 
the  demand  for  the  products  of  the  farm  was  small; 
but  the  soil  was   fertile  and  yielded   readily  cereals, 


The  Sea  King  Race.  19 

fruits,  and  vegetables.  The  roaring  rivulets  turned  the 
mill  wheel,  and  the  housewives  spun  flax  and  wool, 
and  so  the  necessary  demands  upon  the  outer  world 
were  reduced  to  the  minimum. 

One  of  the  very  few  reminiscences  of  his  early  life 
left  by  the  Bishop  gives  us  a  picture  of  the  Sandy  River 
farm  and  the  furrowed  field  over  which  he  v/ent  and 
came  season  after  season.  Like  Virgil,  he  retained 
throughout  his  years  a  love  for  the  farm.  The  smell 
of  lands  newly  plowed  and  the  breath  of  freshly  mown 
meadows  were  grateful  to  his  nostrils.  While  in  ven- 
erable age  and  enjoying  the  reverence  and  all  but  the 
homage  of  the  people  of  the  South  he  was  accustomed 
to  give  much  personal  care  to  the  cultivation  of  the  gar- 
den which  constituted  a  goodly  part  of  his  modest 
Tennessee  estate. 

The  record  is  that  young  Soule,  like  Asbury,  "never 
uttered  an  oath"  and  was  otherwise  singularly  correct 
in  word  and  life.  This  led  his  more  worldly  compan- 
ions to  dub  him  "the  deacon,"  a  title  which  in  that  day 
in  New  England  had  an  aptness  not  now  so  apparent. 
Beyond  a  doubt  there  is  ground  for  belief  in  what  has 
been  termed  "the  genius  for  godliness."  Grace  has 
constantly  found  lives  of  exceptional  responsiveness. 
Prenatal  impulses,  occult  mental  forces,  and,  above 
all,  the  selection  of  divine  destiny  explain  these  mira- 
cles in  the  barren  commonplaces  of  humanity.  The 
lad  of  Avon  belonged  to  the  virgin  chivalry  of  the 
Apocalypse.  But  not  only  were  the  religious  rules  and 
discipline  of  the  Soule  family  restraining  and  to  a  de- 
gree spiritualizing;  both  the  parents  were  people  of 
education,  and  probably  possessed  a  literary  taste  much 


20  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

superior  to  the  average  of  those  about  them.  The  fa- 
ther, if  he  had  not  seen  the  world  widely  and  deeply, 
had  seen  it  from  many  view-points,  and  that  through 
the  eves  of  both  youth  and  manhood.  He  had  had  ex- 
perience enough  and  his  education  was  equal  to  the  de- 
mand of  some  purely  intellectual  undertaking,  had 
there  been  one  inviting  him.  The  mother  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  center  of  politeness  and  good  manners. 
Measured  by  the  times,  she  must  have  been  a  woman 
of  good  education.  Nor  did  these  parents,  in  their 
lack  of  fortune  and  the  absence  of  schools,  leave  their 
children  to  absorb  knowledge  by  uncertain  processes. 
Early  teaching  in  the  home  was  resorted  to.  It  is  the 
Bishop's  own  testimony  that  he  could  not  remember 
when  he  learned  to  read.  Books  such  as  the  means  of 
the  family  and  the  times  afforded  were  provided.  Of 
course  the  Bible  was  the  Book  which  the  boy  most  con- 
stantly read  and  which  was  constantly  read  aloud  in 
the  family ;  yet  others,  if  still  of  titles  and  trend  severe, 
were  supplied.  Beyond  a  peradventure,  stories  of  the 
sea  and  tales  of  daring  and  adventure  were  not  wholly 
wanting.  The  father  was  a  good  story-teller,  and 
through  his  knowledge  of  many  places  and  many  seas 
he  made  his  sons  familiar  beyond  their  natural  chance 
with  the  world  at  large. 

Quickly  upon  the  catechism,  the  primers,  and  the 
storybooks  must  have  followed,  in  the  case  of  the 
young  Joshua,  more  advanced  studies  and  those  repre- 
senting his  own  literary  electicism.  The  course  of 
reading  pursued  by  him  in  youth  and  adolescence  was, 
as  evidenced  by  his  after  culture,  of  most  solid  and 
thought-provoking  character.     The  man  who  at  the 


The  Sea  Kins:  Race.  21 


r6 


age  of  twenty-seven  wrote  the  Constitution  of  Metho- 
dism and  might  have  written  the  Constitution  of  the 
commonwealth  or  held  any  one  of  its  portfolios  of 
State  was  no  sciolist  or  pretender  in  thought  and  logic. 
Ten  years  after  writing  the  Constitution  he  was  set  the 
even  more  difficult  task  of  beginning  the  creation  of  a 
periodical  Methodist  literature.  This  work  he  accom- 
plished, laying  the  foundations  of  Methodist  journal- 
ism— the  beginning  of  its  magazine  and  newspaper 
publications — in  a  way  creditable  to  himself  and  the 
fraternity  which  he  served.  To  this  may  be  added  the 
testimony  of  Bishop  McTyeire,  who  informs  us  "that 
from  1828  to  1844  the  writing  of  every  quadrennial 
Episcopal  Address  was  devolved  on  him."  Dr.  Thom- 
as O.  Summers,  a  man  to  whom  Methodist  thought  and 
literature  are  indebted,  and  who  knew  intimately  the 
later  years  of  Bishop  Soule,  bears  unstinted  testimony 
to  the  greatness  and  correctness  of  his  thought  and  to 
his  power  and  grace  of  expression.  Measured  by  ev- 
ery standard,  the  intellectual  greatness  of  this  man  was 
beyond  question.  And  yet — the  marvel  grows! — he 
was  never  a  day  in  college;  nor  did  he  receive  at  any 
time,  except  from  his  parents,  other  literary  training 
than  that  given  during  brief  months  in  a  back-coun- 
try school  in  Maine  while  yet  an  unorganized  prov- 
ince of  Massachusetts.  In  tracing  the  story  of  the 
intellectual  development  and  mastery  of  this  man  we 
are  to  see  again  a  demonstration  of  the  propulsive  pow- 
er derived  by  the  intellect  from  the  experiences  that 
follow  the  new  birth  and  of  the  way  in  which  the 
Methodist  itinerancy  forces  its  members  into  habits  of 
inquiry  and  literary  acquisition.     The  making  of  this 


22  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

illustrious  man  was  in  the  fellowship  which  he  early 
enjoyed  with  Methodist  circuit  riders,  and  later  in  the 
place  which  he  himself  found  in  the  itinerant  pastor- 
ate, with  its  wide  commissions,  embracing  every  type 
of  life  and  manners,  and  in  the  presidency  of  districts, 
one  of  them  covering  the  entire  Province  of  Maine  and 
yet  another  embracing  the  oldest  and  proudest  sections 
of  the  New  England  of  the  Pilgrims.  These  became  to 
him  a  university  from  which  he  graduated  into  the 
largest  activities  and  highest  honors  of  his  Church. 
Providence  called  him  and  fitted  him  to  serve  in  the 
most  important  offices  which  have  fallen  to  the  leaders 
of  the  Methodism  of  the  Western  world. 

This  was  the  man  who  in  his  youth  plowed  the  fal- 
lows in  one  of  the  most  remote  and  isolated  valleys  of 
Maine.  This  narrow  world  of  his  youth  was  shut  in  on 
the  westward  by  slaty  hills,  darkened  by  birch  and 
pine  wolds,  from  out  whose  fissures  poured  the  foam- 
ing tarns  and  from  whose  shelving  sides  dropped  the 
cataracts.  The  plow  lad  heard  the  voices  of  the  pines 
and  the  birches  mingling  with  the  call  of  the  cataract. 
He  heard  and  would  fain  have  answered,  as  his  sires 
before  had  heard  and  answered  the  call  of  the  sea. 
He  plowed  and  yearned,  and  knew  not  wherefore  nor 
for  what  boon  of  good  or  action.  Beyond  the  hills, 
westward  and  southward,  lay  the  world — the  young 
new  republic,  still  rich  in  the  possession  of  warrior  he- 
roes, diplomats,  and  the  makers  of  her  Constitution, 
and,  most  inspiring  thought  of  all,  counseled  and  ruled 
by  "the  father  of  his  country."  New  England,  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  lands  of  the  far  and  fragrant  South — 
should  he  ever  see  them  ?    Should  he  one  day  have  part 


The  Sea  King  Race.  23 

and  parcel  with  those  who  were  even  now  making  these 
lands  great  amongst  the  nations  of  the  earth?  The 
thought  was  one  of  enchantment,  but  he  dared  to  think 
it.  It  was  the  daydream  of  a  youth,  and  it  soon  faded 
into  mist  or  was  lost  in  the  peaceful  slumber  that  came 
after  the  day  of  toil.  But  the  voice  of  one  crying  in 
the  wilderness  was  ere  long  to  be  heard  above  the 
voices  of  birch  wolds  and  cataracts,  calling  him  to 
destiny  larger  and  diviner  than  his  boldest  dreams  had 
ever  dared. 


CHAPTER    II. 

"Come  and  See." 

As  early  as  1771  the  Methodists  in  North  America 
had  cast  wistful  eyes  toward  New  England,  "the  land 
of  the  Presbyterians,"  as  it  was  later  styled  by  Francis 
Asbury.  But  though  the  hope  of  conquest  was  always 
present,  nothing  definite  looking  toward  that  end  was 
either  undertaken  or  planned  until  a  score  of  years 
later.  To  reach  Canada  the  itinerants  went  around  the 
estate  of  the  Puritans,  and  to  bring  their  forces  into 
Nova  Scotia  they  crossed  it  as  aliens.  Except  in  a  few 
places  along  the  southwestern  border  of  Connecticut, 
no  favorable  opportunity  to  labor  invited  them  until 
near  the  beginning  of  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

Perhaps  those  otherwise  dauntless  spirits  were  over- 
impressed  with  the  reputation  of  the  New  England  peo- 
ple for  general  culture  and  imperious  religious  preju- 
dices. Charles  Wesley  had  preached  in  Boston  sixty 
years  before,  but  as  a  priest  of  the  Church  of  England 
and  two  years  before  the  Aldersgate  experience  of  his 
illustrious  brother.  George  Whitefield  had  more  than 
once  made  a  triumphal  tour  of  the  land,  and  had  left 
long,  burning  trails  of  revival  fire  behind  him.  He  had 
been  received  as  a  prophet  by  Jonathan  Edwards,  the 
apostle  of  the  indigenous  faith,  and  had  enjoyed  be- 
sides the  friendship  and  admiration  of  many  civic  lead- 
ers. Moreover,  the  soil  had  become  sanctified  in  giving 
sepulture  to  his  sleeping  dust.     And  Whitefield  was  a 

(24) 


"Come  and  See."  25 

Methodist,  but  he  believed  and  preached  the  Calvinism 
of  Calvin  himself.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Methodists 
who  followed  Strawbridge  and  Embury  preached  the 
gospel  of  Arminianism,  the  gospel  of  grace  both  free 
and  abounding ;  and  that  was  a  gospel  strange  and  un- 
believable to  New  England  ears  and  reasoning. 

At  the  first  informal  Conference,  held  in  1773,  after 
the  arrival  of  Francis  Asbury  in  America,  that  zealous 
disciple  of  Wesley  made  effective  his  demand  for  a 
more  general  circulation  of  the  preachers ;  and  Richard 
Boardman,  the  general  assistant  of  Mr.  Wesley,  after 
throwing  his  lines  well  to  the  southward,  reserved  New 
England  to  himself  as  a  field  for  evangelization.  But 
Boardman  was  not  the  man  for  such  an  enterprise.  It 
is  pretty  well  established  that  he  made  a  tour  of  in- 
spection as  far  northward  as  Boston.  Tradition  also 
says  that  he  preached  there,  but  nothing  permanent  re- 
sulted from  either  the  visit  or  the  sermon.  Freeborn 
Garretson  is  also  believed  to  have  preached  once  or 
twice  in  that  metropolis  during  one  of  his  journeys  to 
or  from  his  mission  in  Nova  Scotia,  as  did  also  Wil- 
liam Black  the  Wesleyan,  while  on  his  way  to  attend 
the  American  Conference.  These  were  received  by 
"the  Presbyterians"  as  courtesy  calls.  It  was  a  carte 
de  visite  evangelism  which  left  no  results.  The  nature 
of  the  theological  defenses  was  such  as  called  for  a 
prolonged  siege.  The  element  of  time  was  vital  to  the 
issue. 

The  man  selected  and  reserved  of  providence  for  the 
work  of  planting  Methodism  in  New  England  was 
Jesse  Lee,  a  Virginian,  and  one  of  the  greatest  names 
in  the  early  history  of  the  American  Church.     While 


26  Life  of  Joshua  Soule, 

traveling  as  the  companion  of  Bishop  Asbury,  in  1784, 
he  was  treated  by  a  merchant's  clerk  in  Cheraw,  South 
Carolina,  to  an  account  of  the  people  of  New  England 
and  of  the  religious  conditions  prevailing  amongst 
them.  From  this  account  the  zealous  evangelist  drew 
the  conclusion  that  the  people  must  be  largely  strangers 
to  the  vital  truths  of  godliness.  He  therefore  resolved 
that  at  the  earliest  opportunity  he  would  become  the 
bearer  of  a  message  to  the  land,  and  this  purpose  he 
cherished  with  unabated  enthusiasm  until  an  effectual 
door  was  opened. 

On  May  28,  1789,  Bishop  Asbury  makes  this  entry 
in  his  Journal :  aOur  Conference  began  in  New  York. 
.  .  .  New  England  stretcheth  out  the  hand  to  our 
ministry,  and  I  trust  those  lands  will  shortly  feel  the 
influence."  At  this  Conference  Jesse  Lee  was  appoint- 
ed to  work  in  New  England.  In  the  entire  territory 
there  was  not  a  Methodist  chapel  nor  an  appointed 
preaching  place,  nor  had  a  single  member  ever  been 
ci  edited  to  Methodism  within  the  entire  border.  It 
was  one  of  the  most  unique  mission  fields  that  apostle 
ever  entered. 

On  June  17,  1789,  Jesse  Lee  preached  at  Nor  walk 
what  is  said  by  some  to  have  been  the  first  Methodist 
sermon  ever  preached  in  Connecticut.  No  house  could 
be  secured  for  his  use,  so  he  published  his  message 
from  the  street  corner.  In  this  manner  he  pursued  his 
journey,  seeking  places  of  vantage  in  a  land  settled  and 
fortified  in  the  doctrines  of  a  fatalistic  theology.  By 
June  21  he  had  reached  New  Haven,  and  in  September 
the  first  Methodist  society  ever  formed  in  New  En- 
gland met  at  Stratford.     Here  also  was  built  the  first 


"Come  and  Sec."  27 

Methodist  house  of  worship  in  "the  land  of  the  Pres- 
byterians." It  afterwards  became  a  famous  and  impor- 
tant center,  and  was  long  known  as  Lee's  Chapel,  so 
called  in  honor  of  its  founder.  In  February  of  the 
next  year  three  recruits  were  sent  over  the  border  to 
assist  in  the  opening  up  of  the  work.  At  the  Confer- 
ence held  in  New  York  in  October,  1790,  Jesse  Lee 
as  presiding  elder,  John  Bloodgood,  John  Lee,  Nathan- 
iel P.  Mills,  and  Daniel  Smith  were  appointed  to  the 
New  England  District.  Four  circuits  were  named: 
Fairfield,  New  Haven,  Hartford,  and  Boston.  It  was 
a  vast  field,  and  held  tremendous  possibilities.  The 
next  year  four  hundred  and  eighty-one  members,  with 
six  organized  circuits,  were  reported;  and  the  preach- 
ing corps  was  reenforced  by  the  appointment  of  half  a 
dozen  extra  itinerants.  By  1792  a  thousand  members 
could  be  counted,  and  the  work  in  Connecticut  was  de- 
tached from  the  New  England  District,  which  was  now 
divided  into  four  comprehensive  circuits.  By  rapid 
movements  the  whole  land  was  thus  being  marked  off 
for  future  tilling. 

As  yet,  however,  the  itinerants  had  not  entered  the 
Province  of  Maine ;  but  they  proposed  to  do  so  in  ear- 
nest during  the  following  year.  Accordingly,  at  the 
Conference  which  met  at  Lynn  in  August,  1793,  As- 
bury  appointed  the  seasoned  Jesse  Lee  to  the  "Prov- 
ince of  Maine  and  Lynn."  Without  delay  Lee  threw 
his  battle  line  far  into  the  Maine  wilds,  so  as  to  include 
in  one  vast  circuit  all  the  land  west  of  the  Kennebec 
River.  This  work,  which  was  called  the  Readfield  Cir- 
cuit, was  nearly  two  hundred  miles  east  of  the  next 
nearest  Methodist  station  in  New  England.    Within  its 


28  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

wide  area  lay  the  fertile  and  isolated  Sandy  River  Val- 
ley and  the  home  of  Joshua  Soule,  the  one-time  sea 
captain. 

The  community  at  Avon,  with  its  well-tilled  farms 
and  well-bred  people,  could  not  escape  the  attention  of 
so  experienced  an  evangelist  as  Lee ;  so  he  lost  no  time 
in  making  his  way  into  the  valley.  A  preaching 
place  was  established  at  a  house  near  the  Soule  home, 
and  there  young  Joshua  heard  his  first  Methodist  ser- 
mon at  the  lips  of  the  Virginian.  The  miracle  which 
was  wrought  upon  Jesse  Lee  by  the  preaching  of  Rob- 
ert Williams,  the  self-sent  missionary  to  America,  was 
destined  to  be  wrought  upon  Joshua  Soule  by  the 
preaching  of  Lee  and  his  helpers.  Robert  Williams 
was  the  spiritual  son  of  John  Wesley,  Lee  was  the  son 
of  Williams,  and  Soule  the  son  of  Lee.  The  last  days 
of  Bishop  Soule  are  vividly  alive  in  the  memory  of  the 
writer  of  these  pages.  Joshua  Soule,  Jesse  Lee,  Rob- 
ert Williams,  John  Wesley!  Is  it  so,  then,  that  but 
three  steps  measure  back  to  the  days  and  work  of  the 
great  Wesley  ? 

Could  the  spirit  of  prophecy  have  revealed  to  the 
Virginia  itinerant,  breaking  paths  through  the  un- 
marked Maine  wilderness,  that  he  was  there,  and  not 
long  after,  to  find  the  youth  who,  come  to  years,  was  to 
give  to  the  laws  and  assemblies  of  Methodism  the  cast 
of  enduring  consistency  and  secure  its  doctrines  and 
traditions  against  the  sports  of  time  and  the  hasty 
judgments  of  men;  in  a  word,  had  it  been  shown  him 
that  he  was  there  to  discover  and  touch  that  spirit 
who,  with  Wesley  and  Asbury,  was  to  complete  the 
triumvirate  of  mastery  in  the  first  century  of  Metho- 


"Come  and  See."  29 

dism,  he  had  had  a  new  incentive  for  his  work.  But 
this  he  could  not  know.  The  men  of  destiny  are,  like 
the  gold  nuggets  and  auriferous  quartz,  hid  in  out-of- 
the-way  places.  They  are  not  many,  and  patience  only 
can  discover  them.  The  message  which  Methodism 
sent  to  the  Avon  wilds  was  not  only  one  which  invited 
the  farmer  lad  to  test  the  promise,  but  it  was  also  one 
of  unconscious  need  against  a  fast-coming  crisis.  A 
man,  large,  masterful,  supreme,  was  wanted.  Whence 
he  was  to  come,  who  could  tell?  But  the  morrow 
awaited  his  coming. 

Dr.  Nathan  Bangs,  an  early  historian  of  Methodism, 
himself  a  native  of  New  England  and  a  trophy  of  the 
evangelism  of  the  itinerants,  says  that  the  first  impres- 
sion made  by  Lee  and  his  associates  on  the  New  En- 
gland folk  was  that  they  were  men  of  broken-down 
means  and  circumstance  in  the  South,  who  had  chosen 
this  method  of  repairing  their  fortunes.  This  was  a 
compliment  to  their  genteel  manners  and  the  business- 
like way  in  which  they  went  about  the  discharge  of 
their  affairs.  It  was  particularly  noted  that  they  were 
from  the  South.  Even  in  that  early  day  the  compass 
spoke  a  significant  language.  It  was  the  South  that 
gave  the  gospel  of  Methodism  to  New  England,  and 
New  England  squared  a  large  part  of  that  obligation 
when  she  gave  Joshua  Soule  to  the  South. 

In  1795  Enoch  Mudge,  with  Elias  Hall  as  assistant, 
was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  Readfield  Circuit.  It 
is  from  Mudge  that  we  have  the  first  account  of  young 
Soule  and  of  his  affiliation  with  the  Methodists. 
Mudge  was  himself  a  young  man,  and  had  been  or- 
dained a  deacon  only  at  the  Conference  which  met  in 


30  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

July  of  that  year.  He  was  intelligent  and  fervid  in 
manner  and  word,  just  the  messenger  to  entice  and 
capture  a  candid  and  reverent  youth  like  Joshua  Soule. 
It  is  certain  that  a  warm  and  confidential  friendship 
grew  up  between  the  young  men  even  before  Soule  be- 
came a  Methodist. 

As  already  stated,  a  preaching  place  had  been  es- 
tablished at  Avon  by  the  itinerants.  As  this  was  only 
a  few  furlongs  from  the  home  of  Captain  Soule,  his 
son  Joshua  was  attracted  to  the  place  and  became  a 
constant  attendant  upon  the  services.  He  was  at  this 
time  barely  fifteen  years  of  age.  Mudge  gives  us  this 
account  of  his  youthful  auditor:  "He  had  a  precocious 
mind,  a  strong  memory,  and  a  manly,  dignified  turn, 
although  his  appearance  was  exceedingly  rustic." 
Thus,  though  the  two  were  brought  into  close  and  inti- 
mate relations  and  the  young  rustic  identified  himself 
with  the  itinerant  and  his  congregation,  it  appears  that 
he  did  not  during  Mudge's  pastorate  make  a  profes- 
sion of  faith  or  join  in  society.  Perhaps  this  hesitancy 
in  taking  a  radical  religious  step  was  due  to  that  con- 
stitutional deliberation  which  showed  itself  in  every  ac- 
tion of  his  life ;  perhaps  also  he  was  restrained  by  re- 
spect for  the  theological  prejudices  of  his  parents.  But 
there  was  no  return  from  the  course  upon  which  he  had 
set  his  face.  He  found  in  the  preaching  of  the  Metho- 
dists a  statement  of  the  gospel  to  which  his  mind  fully 
assented.  He  turned  his  back  upon  Calvinism  forever ; 
his  heart  had  never  been  with  it,  and  in  the  opposite 
view  he  found  both  mental  satisfaction  and  the  accord- 
ance of  experience.  He  saw  at  once  the  agreement  of 
Wesleyan  theology  with  the  Scriptures,  and  recognized 


"Come  and  Sec."  31 

it  as  a  thing  he  had  met  with  in  the  higher  thought  of 
books.  For  the  first  time  he  heard  a  gospel  in  which 
fear  gave  place  to  love — in  which,  in  fact,  all  fear  was 
cast  out  by  perfect  love.  It  was  easy  to  believe  with 
such  conditions  established. 

The  time  nor  the  place  of  his  conversion  is  to 
be  fixed  so  definitely  as  in  the  case  of  Wesley  and  As- 
bury.  "Do  you  think  you  could  come  within  three 
days  of  the  exact  time  of  your  justification?"  he  was 
asked  late  in  life.  "No,"  was  his  reply.  "Within  a 
month?"  "Yes  ;  nearer  than  that."  "Within  a  week?" 
"Yes;  within  that  space  of  time  I  could  fix  the  gra- 
cious change."    The  sense  of  change  was  definite. 

But  after  conversion  there  came  an  experience,  a 
revelation  so  marked  and  clear  that,  like  the  disciple 
invited  to  "come  and  see"  where  Messias  dwelt,  he  re- 
membered ever  after  the  place  and  hour.  On  a  certain 
morning  before  sunrise,  as  had  become  his  established 
habit  since  meeting  with  the  Methodists,  he  went  out 
into  the  birch  wood  to  pray.  While  engaged  in  this 
devotion  he  was  blessed  for  the  first  time  with  the  def- 
inite witness  of  the  Spirit.  Before  this  he  had  doubt- 
ed ;  now  he  doubted  no  more.  Heaven  smiled  within, 
as  it  smiled  without.  A  new  earth  lay  about  him.  The 
testimony  to  his  adoption  was  complete.  His  earliest 
spiritual  awakening  —  possibly  his  conversion  —  oc- 
curred under  the  preaching  of  Jesse  Lee  in  1793,  when 
he  was  in  his  thirteenth  year,  while  the  experience 
above  described  is  probably  to  be  referred  to  the  year 
1795  or  1796;  but  it  was  not  until  1797,  and  when  he 
was  fully  sixteen  years  of  age,  that  he  assumed  the 
vows  of  Church  membership.    This  occurred  under  the 


32  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

pastorate  of  Robert  Yalalee,  who  was  that  year  with 
Joshua  Taylor  (who  was  also  presiding  elder)  in 
charge  of  the  Readfield  Circuit. 

When  after  a  long  season  of  deliberation  the  convert 
decided  to  join  the  Church  and  chose  the  communion 
of  the  execrated  Methodists,  there  was  sorrow  min- 
gled with  indignation  in  the  home  of  the  ex-sea  cap- 
tain. The  father  tried  to  dissuade  his  son  from  ever 
going  again  amongst  the  Methodists  and  sternly  inter- 
dicted the  step  which  he  had  proposed ;  while  the  moth- 
er, amid  tears  and  remonstrations,  plainly  declared 
that  she  would  regard  him  as  disgraced  and  ruined  if 
he  joined  himself  to  the  hated  sect.  Such  were  the 
bitter  prejudices  in  that  region  and  at  that  time  against 
"the  people  called  Methodists." 

A  calm  review  of  the  matter  in  his  own  heart  con- 
vinced the  youth  that  he  could  pursue  no  other  course 
than  that  upon  which  he  had  determined.  He  there- 
fore had  his  father  and  his  mother  apart  for  a  consid- 
eration together  of  his  case.  "With  much  respect  and 
many  tears,"  to  continue  the  story  in  his  own  words, 
"I  told  them  my  convictions,  and,  besides,  requested 
them  to  name  a  single  instance  in  which  I  had  ever  dis- 
obeyed them.  But  now  I  felt  it  my  solemn  duty  to 
unite  with  the  Methodist  Church,  and  to  gain  their 
consent  and  approval  would  afford  me  more  happiness 
than  anything  else  in  the  world."  But  the  father 
would  not  abate  his  opposition,  and  "his  mortification 
grew  toward  indignition"  at  the  firm  proposal ;  nor  had 
his  mother's  opposition  and  displeasure  decreased. 
With  renewed  entreaties  and  tears  she  besought  him  to 
turn  aside  from  his  purpose. 


"Come  and  Sec."  2>Z 

"It  cost  me  something  to  be  a  Methodist,"  he  said  in 
after  years.  "I  became  one  fully  expecting  to  be  an 
exile  from  my  father's  house."  But  parental  love 
proved  stronger  than  credal  prejudice.  The  son  fol- 
lowed the  drawings  of  the  Spirit  and  continued  in  du- 
tiful service  at  home.  The  hot  anger  and  persecutions 
for  which  he  looked  were  never  visited  upon  him. 
Scant  reference  was  made  in  the  home  to  the  matter 
thereafter,  but  the  son  attended  his  meetings  alone. 
However,  the  power  of  Calvinism  was  broken  in  that 
household,  and  the  end  was  not  distant. 

It  seems  certainly  established  that  young  Soule  took 
the  vows  under  Robert  Yalalee  in  1797,  as  I  have  re- 
corded above,  but  Bishop  McTyeire  says  that  "he 
joined  the  Church  under  Thomas  Cope  at  one  of  the 
week-day  meetings."  This  may  be  easily  explained. 
The  General  Minutes  show  that  Cope  was  in  the  New 
England  District  during  both  the  years  1795  and  1796. 
He  likely  exchanged  in  the  winter  of  1795-96,  on  the 
three-months  plan,  with  Enoch  Mudge,  and  so  re- 
ceived the  future  bishop  into  society  on  probation  soon 
after  the  interview  with  his  parents  described  above. 
His  probation  expiring  under  the  pastorate  of  Yalalee, 
he  was  admitted  to  vows  in  the  regular  order.  This 
understanding  accords  with  the  most  interesting  ac- 
count which  Bishop  McTyeire  and  others  have  given 
of  the  conversion,  soon  after,  of  Captain  Soule,  his 
wife,  two  elder  sons,  and  two  daughters.  In  1796, 
during  the  probationary  period  of  Joshua's  member- 
ship, Cyrus  Stebbins  was  appointed  to  the  care  of  the 
Readfield  Circuit.  This  Stebbins  appears  to  have  been 
a  man  of  extraordinary  powers  of  oratory  and  of  more 
3 


34  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

than  ordinary  education.  He  had  been  but  a  year  or 
two  in  the  traveling  connection,  but  was  experienced 
in  public  speech,  and  had  read  the  controversial  books 
of  the  day,  especially  those  against  Deism  on  the  one 
hand  and  against  Calvinism  on  the  other — the  two  ex- 
tremes which  the  early  Methodist  preachers  had  to 
meet  and  refute.  The  coming  of  this  Boanerges  and 
master  of  polemics  into  the  Sandy  River  country  pro- 
voked from  the  first  a  deep  interest  amongst  all  classes 
of  religious  people.  Young  Soule,  who  was  particular- 
ly impressed  by  the  power  and  personality  of  the 
pieacher,  was  led  to  wish  that  his  father  might  hear 
him.  There,  however,  seemed  little  hope  that  he  could 
be  induced  to  give  the  champion  an  audience.  But  as 
one  of  Stebbins's  week-day  appointments  was  at  hand, 
the  son  resolved  to  hazard  an  invitation  to  his  father 
to  attend.  The  two  were  plowing  together  in  the  field, 
and  at  the  turn  of  a  furrow  the  son  said:  "Father,  a 
distinguished  man  is  to  preach  for  us  this  afternoon. 
Will  you  go  to  hear  him?"  "No/'  returned  the  ex- 
sea  captain  with  viking  firmness ;  "I  have  heard  one  or 
two  of  these  Methodists.  They  are  all  alike:  enthu- 
siasts, and  do  not  know  how  to  preach."  The  incident 
seemed  to  be  closed,  but  the  son  ventured  a  respectful 
remonstrance.  "Does  your  law  judge  a  man  before  he 
is  heard?"  was  a  question  whose  form  and  spirit  were 
equally  surprising  to  the  father.  He  found  no  words 
with  which  to  answer,  but  became  seriously  thoughtful. 
Although  still  deeply  displeased  with  his  son's  reli- 
gious affiliations,  he  was  made  to  respect  his  decision 
and  frankness. 

The  noon  hour  came,  and  the  horses  were  unhitched, 


"Come  and  See."  35 

stabled,  and  fed.  After  this  came  the  midday  meal, 
which  was  eaten  with  silence  between  father  and  son, 
or  at  least  without  a  syllable  of  reference  to  the  conver- 
sation of  the  morning.  The  time  having  arrived  when 
the  old  seaman  should  have  returned  to  his  plowing,  the 
son  was  surprised  to  hear  him  order  that  the  two 
horses  be  groomed  and  saddled.  Within  an  hour  fa- 
ther and  son  were  riding  side  by  side  toward  the  Meth- 
odist preaching  place,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant.  To 
young  Joshua  the  hour  was  crucial,  the  occasion  heavy 
with  issue.  His  solicitude  was  great,  but  the  preacher 
justified  the  boast  which  he  had  made  to  his  father  in 
the  forenoon.  The  theme  was  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the 
dry  bones  that  lived.  It  was  a  favorite  subject  with  the 
early  itinerants,  and  suited  well  the  fervid  and  pictur- 
esque style  of  Stebbins.  The  message  had  power  for 
all  who  heard.  The  old  sea  captain  listened,  surprised, 
interested,  and  disturbed,  if  not  convinced.  Great  was 
young  Soule's  delight  when  his  father  consented  to  be 
presented  to  the  preacher,  but  what  was  his  joy  to  hear 
him  invite  the  preacher  to  accept  for  the  night  the  hos- 
pitality of  his  home !  The  invitation  was  accepted  with 
a  hearty  promptness.  The  tops  of  the  mulberry  trees 
were  moving  prophetically. 

"Knowing  my  father's  prejudices,"  said  the  Bishop, 
"I  had  my  fears.  He  was  a  thoughtful  man,  and  had 
read  much  in  theology;  and  he  considered  the  argu- 
ments for  Calvinism  unanswerable.  Already  I  saw  a 
controversy  in  store ;  so  I  made  it  convenient  to  drop 
behind  as  the  company  rode  along  and  have  a  word 
with  the  preacher,  putting  him  on  his  guard,  and  let 
him  know  what  was  required  and  expected  of  him." 


36  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Next  to  the  outright  preaching  of  the  gospel,  the  early 
Methodist  preachers  enjoyed  meeting  a  theological  an- 
tagonist spoiling  for  a  controversy.  Stebbins  furbished 
his  armor  and  loosened  his  blade.  Supper  over,  the  sea 
captain  threw  down  the  gage  in  a  general  challenge 
of  the  doctrines  antithetical  to  Calvinism.  The  field 
thus  laid  off  was  a  wide  one,  but  Stebbins  soon  drove 
his  host  to  short  strokes  on  the  chief  of  the  "five 
points."  The  contest  was  maintained  until  one  o'clock 
the  next  morning.  "With  pleasure  I  saw  my  father 
hemmed  in,"  declared  the  Bishop  in  after  years.  "He 
could  go  no  farther.  He  was  a  candid  man,  and  con- 
fessed himself  foiled."  Without  the  anger  and  resent- 
ment that  usually  attend  the  defeat  of  prejudice  and 
bigotry,  the  old  captain  saluted  the  victor  and  drew  off. 
Prayer  had  been  offered  in  the  house  night  and 
morning  during  the  preacher's  visit ;  and  the  next  day, 
as  his  guest  prepared  to  depart,  the  younger  Soule  was 
astonished  to  hear  his  father  invite  him  not  only  to 
make  his  home  a  regular  stopping  place,  but  also  to 
hold  his  monthly  circuit  preaching  services  under  his 
roof.  This  invitation  was  as  promptly  accepted  as  the 
first,  and  the  next  appointment  was  published  for  the 
house  of  the  sea  captain.  The  congregation  which 
crowded  the  chambers  of  the  Avon  farmhouse  was  a 
notable  one  for  the  time  and  the  region.  Two  or  three 
Baptist  preachers  from  different  parts  of  the  valley 
were  present.  The  neighbors  from  far  and  near,  en- 
ticed by  the  juncture  of  opposites,  came  to  hear  the 
champion  of  Arminianism  prophesy  in  the  house  of  the 
champion  of  Calvinism.  As  before,  Stebbins  rose  to 
the  demands  of  the  occasion.     It  was  a  day  remem- 


"Come  and  See."  37 

bered  to  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  Man.  For  a  month  the 
old  seaman  had  contemplated  the  wreck  of  his  former 
theological  notions;  to-day  the  tides  swept  him  into  a 
new  confidence.  Within  six  months  of  the  time  that 
Joshua  had  joined  in  society  on  probation  his  father 
and  nearly  all  the  remaining  members  of  the  family  fol- 
lowed his  example.  "So  early  did  he  begin  to  show 
those  qualities  that  made  him  a  leader  among  men,  a 
captain  of  the  Lord's  host." 

Captain  Soule  lived  many  years  after  his  union  with 
the  Methodists  and  became  an  official  member  and  a 
local  leader  of  the  Church  to  which  his  youngest  son 
was  destined  to  give  so  long  and  so  illustrious  a  serv- 
ice. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Among  the  Prophets. 

It  must  be  foreseen  that  a  life  so  evidently  sought 
of  Providence  as  was  that  of  the  youth  Joshua  Soule 
could  be  called  to  no  ordinary  destiny.  Only  the  ex- 
pected, therefore,  is  found  to  have  happened  when,  at 
the  age  of  seventeen,  he  confessed  that  he  had  received 
a  divine  commission  to  preach  and  asked  the  Church 
for  a  license.  The  early  Methodists  placed  great  em- 
phasis upon  the  doctrine  of  a  distinct  call  of  the  evan- 
gelist to  his  office.  This  call  was  looked  to  as  the 
pledge  of  a  distinct  experience  of  grace  to  be  found  in 
the  hearts  of  his  converts.  The  points  involve  what 
may  be  called  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Methodism  and 
describe  its  centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces.  The 
messenger  is  divinely  prepared  and  sent ;  the  convert  is 
divinely  sealed.  The  outcome  of  Methodism  is  re- 
ferable to  these  related  tenets.  Naked-handed  grace 
and  providential  calls  have  shown  a  manifest  in  strange 
contrast  with  the  ministry  of  "the  younger  son"  incum- 
bents of  farmed-out  livings.  How  different  the 
"brown-bread''  preachers  of  Wesley  and  the  rustic 
American  itinerants  of  Asbury  from  the  polished  but 
powerless  curates  of  eighteenth  century  Anglicanism ! 
The  finish  of  the  schools,  the  letter  of  privileges,  and 
the  traditions  of  rank  separated  them.  Before  the 
problem  of  the  world's  needs  the  priests  of  softness 
were  helpless,  while  the  men  called  to  the  evangel  of 
hardness  and  plainness  took  the  task  of  the  age's  re- 

(38) 


Among  the  Prophets.  39 

demption  as  they  took  their  native  airs.  They  changed 
the  social  and  religious  destinies  of  England  and  gave 
to  virgin  America  its  enduring  evangelical  spirit.  Al- 
though the  early  Methodist  preachers,  both  in  En- 
gland and  the  New  World,  were  drawn  from  many 
different  walks  of  life,  they  exhibited  a  class  or  orde*- 
likeness  which  indicated  that  the  entire  fraternity  had 
been  drafted  under  a  common  call.  Joshua  Soule, 
though  he  early  became  "the  most  dominating  person- 
ality in  American  Methodism,"  was  strongly  marked 
with  the  homologies  of  his  order.  Indeed,  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  of  his  career  he  passed  sympathet- 
ically through  every  rank  and  stage  of  experience 
known  to  the  early  itinerancy.  His  preparation  came 
in  service ;  his  triumph  fell  to  him  not  in  one  supreme 
recognition,  but  in  multiplied  installments  apportioned 
to  the  changes  of  a  long  life.  His  own  laconic  record 
of  his  career  is :  "The  Lord  called  me  to  preach,  and  I 
went." 

In  the  year  1797-98  the  Province  of  Maine  was 
separated  from  the  remainder  of  New  England  and 
erected  into  a  district,  with  Joshua  Taylor  as  presiding 
elder.  There  were  but  six  circuits  in  this  district ;  and 
of  the  chief,  Readfield,  Taylor  was  made  senior  pastor 
in  addition  to  his  duties  as  "president  elder,"  with  Rob- 
ert Yalalee  assistant  or  junior  pastor.  It  was  during 
this  year  that  Joshua  Soule  completed  his  probation 
and  became  a  member  in  full  standing  of  the  Avon  con- 
gregation. In  August,  1798,  was  held  in  the  Readfield 
church  the  first  Methodist  Conference  ever  convened  in 
the  territory  now  embraced  within  the  State  of  Maine. 
The  Readfield  church  also  enjoyed  the  distinction  of 


40  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

being  the  first  house  of  worship  built  by  the  Methodists 
in  the  province.  It  was  a  pretentious  structure  for  the 
times  and  locality,  and  particularly  so,  considered  as 
the  property  of  the  pikestaff  followers  of  Asbury. 

A  Methodist  Conference  being  a  doubly  novel  oc- 
casion in  the  province,  it  was  expected  that  the  attend- 
ance upon  it  would  be  great.  Five  days  previous  to  the 
sitting  Bishop  Asbury,  traveling  thither  in  company 
with  Jesse  Lee,  prophesied  that  it  would  "probably 
draw  the  people  from  far  and  near."  The  expectation 
was  not  to  be  disappointed.  "From  one  thousand  to 
eighteen  hundred  souls,"  writes  Asbury  in  his  Journal, 
"attended  public  preaching  and  ordination."  A  new 
or  temporary  gallery  had  been  constructed  in  the 
church.  This  was  so  crowded  with  eager  listeners  that 
the  timbers  began  to  creak  and  threatened  a  collapse. 
An  incipient  panic  was  started,  but  was  checked  with- 
out serious  consequences.  Nine  preachers  sat  with  As- 
bury in  this  Conference.  Jesse  Lee  was  also  present, 
but  only  as  Bishop  Asbury's  traveling  companion. 
Enoch  Mudge,  Timothy  Merritt,  and  Joshua  Taylor 
were  the  leaders  of  the  rank.  The  district  had,  how- 
ever, but  recently  lost  by  transfer  Nicholas  Snethen, 
long  prominent  as  one  of  Asbury's  associates  and  later 
still  more  prominent  as  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Methodist  Protestant  Church.  The  pastors  reported 
a  total  of  nearly  one  thousand  members  gathered  in 
the  Province,  and  this  in  the  short  space  of  five  years, 
from  a  sparse  and  widely  scattered  population,  in  the 
face  of  all  but  insuperable  difficulties  and  opposition. 
The  O'Kelly  defection  in  Virginia  and  the  Hammitt 
controversy  in  South  Carolina  had  cost  the  connection 


Among  the  Prophets.  41 

a  large  total  of  members,  but  the  marked  success  of  the 
preachers  in  New  England  had  helped  to  supply  the 
loss.  The  whole  of  New  England  could  now  show  a 
total  of  nearly  five  thousand  members.  It  was  not 
without  reason  that  the  soul  of  the  heroic  Lee  rejoiced 
at  what  it  was  permitted  him  to  see  at  the  Readfield 
Conference. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  positively  that  the  Soules  at- 
tended the  Conference  meeting  at  Readfield.  Most 
probably  the  son  did.  His  plans  for  entering  himself 
into  the  ministry  were  by  this  time  so  definite  that  he 
would  certainly  wish  to  attend.  The  distance  was  not 
great,  and  the  season  of  the  year  was  that  in  which  he 
would  have  the  necessary  leisure.  The  fact  that  al- 
most immediately  after  this  Conference  he  asked  for 
license  and  began  to  travel  as  a  "helper''  is  our  best 
reason  for  thinking  that  he  had  heard  Asbury's  stir- 
ring Conference  sermon  on  "This  Ministry"  and  had 
witnessed  the  impressive  ceremonies  of  ordination. 

Joshua  Taylor  was  returned  to  the  presiding  elder- 
ship of  the  Maine  District,  and  was  also  again  desig- 
nated as  senior  pastor  of  the  Readfield  Circuit,  with 
Jesse  Stoneman  as  junior.  Some  time  in  the  autumn 
following  Joshua  Soule  was  licensed  by  the  Readfield 
Quarterly  Conference  to  preach,  and  at  the  same  time 
and  by  the  same  body  was  recommended  to  the  An- 
nual Conference  for  admission  into  the  traveling  con- 
nection. Thus,  without  having  been  either  an  exhorter 
or  a  local  preacher,  he  stepped  at  a  single  stride  into 
the  pastoral  rank.  The  Annual  Conference  was  to 
meet  the  following  June  in  New  York  City,  so  the  pre- 
siding elder  appointed  him  to  be  his  traveling  compan- 


42  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

ion  around  the  district.  Upon  this  service  he  entered 
on  January  5,  1799,  his  eighteenth  birthday  being  still 
seven  months  away.  Taylor  himself  was  but  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  but  had  already  had  fully  seven 
years  of  seasoning  work  as  an  itinerant.  He  was  a 
mighty  man  of  God,  not  learned,  not  gifted  as  men  are 
wont  to  measure  gifts ;  but  his  labors  were  honored  of 
Heaven  through  a  ministry  of  seventy  years.  He  lived 
to  see  the  rustic  lad  whom  he  had  inducted  into  the 
ministry  rise  to  the  highest  places  of  distinction  and 
power  in  the  Church,  and  also  to  witness  his  intrepid- 
ity in  the  times  when  the  world  divided  at  his  feet.  In 
long  journeys  from  Portland  to  the  most  distant  Meth- 
odist stations  on  the  British  border  and  back  again,  in 
labors  abundant  and  exhortations  multiplied,  the  young 
presiding  elder  and  his  young  companion  finished  the 
Conference  year.  The  mettle  of  the  rustic  prophet,  but 
recently  plucked  from  the  haymow  and  the  husk  heaps 
of  the  barn,  began  to  be  seen.  The  rule  was  for  him  to 
exhort  after  Taylor's  sermon.  His  youth  and  con- 
strained manner  at  once  secured  for  him  the  generous 
sympathy  of  the  people.  But  his  unusual  endowments 
were  also  quickly  detected,  and  it  was  not  long  until 
the  congregations  began  to  regard  the  exhortations 
after  the  elder's  sermon  as  "the  last  for  which  the  first 
was  made." 

There  was  no  Conference  held  in  New  England  for 
the  year  1799,  the  appointments  for  the  Eastern  States 
being  made  at  the  Conference  held  in  New  York  City, 
beginning  June  19.  In  the  previous  year  only  seven 
sittings  had  been  appointed  for  the  entire  connection, 
and  for  this  year  the  number  had  been  reduced  to  six. 


Among  the  Prophets.  43 

There  were  two  reasons  for  this.  It  had  been  felt  by 
the  preachers,  and  the  feeling  had  been  plainly  ex- 
pressed, that  an  unnecessary  number  of  Conference 
meetings  were  being  appointed.  There  being  no  Con- 
ference boundary  lines  then  as  now,  the  proximity  of 
some  of  these  meetings  to  one  another  resulted  in  much 
confusion.  Besides  this,  Bishop  Asbury  was  now 
alone  in  the  superintendency,  and  his  strength  was  at 
the  lowest  ebb.  On  May  26,  less  than  a  month  before 
the  opening  of  the  Conference  in  New  York,  he  wrote : 
"I  have  had  great  dejection  of  mind  and  awful  calcu- 
lations of  what  may  be  and  what  may  never  be.  I  have 
now  groaned  along  three  hundred  miles  from  Balti- 
more." Again,  on  June  2,  he  wrote:  ''Dr.  Anderson, 
Drs.  Ridgely  and  Neadham  considered  my  case;  they 
advised  a  total  suspension  of  preaching,  fearing  a  con- 
sumption or  a  dropsy  in  the  breast."  But  the  way  in 
which  he  "suspended"  was  to  hold  the  Conference  in 
Philadelphia  four  days  thereafter  and  then  push  on  to 
New  York  to  preach  and  do  double  work  in  that  sit- 
ting.   Marvelous  man ! 

I  have  searched  in  vain  for  some  evidence  that 
Joshua  Soule  attended  the  Conference  which  received 
him  on  trial.  It  is  possible  that  of  the  ten  preachers  in 
the  Maine  District  only  Joshua  Taylor,  the  presiding 
elder,  and  Timothy  Merritt  took  the  long  journey  to 
New  York.  It  was  not  unusual  for  the  presiding  elder 
only  to  report  in  person  where  the  work  of  an  isolated 
field  was  to  be  considered  at  a  distant  sitting.  It  was 
a  still  more  common  procedure  for  the  presiding  elder 
to  represent  applicants  for  admission  on  trial ;  so  that 
if  Soule  was  really  absent  from  the  Conference  in  New 


44  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

York  when  his  case  was  acted  upon,  he  was  in  the  suc- 
cession of  many  precedents.  Bishop  Andrew,  his  col- 
league and  close  associate  of  after  years,  was  not  pres- 
ent at  the  Conference  session  in  South  Carolina  which 
indorsed  his  application  and  gave  him  a  place  amongst 
the  itinerants.  The  examinations  of  those  days  did 
not  lay  so  much  stress  on  literary  preparation  as  on  the 
tongue  of  good  report  under  which  the  candidate's 
character  and  his  zeal  in  evangelism  came,  and  the  pre- 
siding elder  was  his  sponsor. 

The  Portland  Circuit  was  this  year  the  head  station 
of  the  Maine  District,  as  it  had  been  in  the  previous 
year.  To  it  Joshua  Soule,  the  acolyte,  was  assigned  as 
junior  preacher,  with  Timothy  Merritt  as  preacher  in 
charge.  This  wilderness  curacy  was  something  un- 
usual in  extent,  being  five  hundred  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence and  containing  twenty-seven  monthly  appoint- 
ments. Sometimes  the  two  itinerants  traveled  togeth- 
er ;  but  generally  they  moved  in  opposite  directions,  or 
else  with  a  fortnight  and  a  long  reach  of  roadway  be- 
tween them.  A  few  merchants  and  land  owners,  lum- 
bermen, shipbuilders,  fishermen,  crofters,  and  laborers 
made  up  the  people  whom  they  found  in  their  wide 
field.  The  old-new  town  of  Portland,  containing  then 
not  above  two  thousand  people,  and  many  villages 
gave  a  leaven  of  politeness  and  provincial  culture  to 
the  whole.  It  was,  socially  speaking,  the  most  impor- 
tant pastorate  in  the  entire  district,  and,  next  to  the 
Readfield  Circuit,  contained  the  largest  Methodist  pop- 
ulation. It  became  to  the  rustic  young  evangelist  from 
Sandy  Valley  at  once  a  charge  to  be  instructed  in  spir- 
itual things  and  a  schoolmaster  to  be  used  in  passing 


Among  the  Prophets.  45 

himself  through  the  rudiments  of  self-development  and 
training. 

It  was  at  Portland — probably  during  the  previous 
year — that  young  Soule  got  his  first  remembered  sight 
of  the  sea.  He  was  born  at  the  very  verge  of  the 
ocean,  but  it  was  only  with  baby  eyes  that  he  there  saw 
the  far-receding  fields  of  blue  on  which  so  many  gen- 
erations of  his  kin  had  worked  out  their  fortunes  and 
destinies.  Upon  the  untraveled  landsman  the  first  vi- 
sion of  the  sea  has  a  distinctly  widening  impression. 
It  is  the  monitor  without  lips  or  hands.  In  it  the  Deity 
is  mirrored,  and  upon  its  bosom  is  broadly  borne  the 
dread  symbol  of  eternity.  The  emotions  rise  instantly 
and  tumultuously  to  answer  its  fascinating  mysteries ; 
the  soul  hails  it  as  the  echo  of  itself,  and  the  intel- 
lectual powers  strain  to  conform  themselves  to  its  il- 
limitable withdrawings.  The  tides  did  not  discover  a 
poet  or  a  sea  dreamer  in  the  young  Maine  circuit  rider, 
but  they  did  awaken  a  sea-king  mastery  amongst  his 
sober  and  prodigiously  expanding  thoughts.  From 
that  moment  he  began  a  conquest  of  books  and  gave 
himself  to  a  study  of  those  world-moving  concerns 
that  engage  men  at  their  best.  Thus  it  was  that  he 
undertook  while  yet  a  youth  to  gather  to  himself  those 
resources  of  knowledge  and  power  that  quickly  made 
him  "the  dominating  personality"  of  his  Church.  The 
towering  head,  surmounted  by  a  shock  of  hair  that 
shook  like  Lebanon,  which  was  so  marked  a  feature  of 
his  physical  ensemble  in  age,  was  equally  a  distinguish- 
ing member  in  his  youth.  His  cisternlike  cranial  cavi- 
ties were  crammed  with  healthy  gray  fiber,  fed  from 
the  shorts  of  Sandy  River  cereals,  thrilled  with  the 


46  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

ozone  of  the  birch  hills,  vital  with  the  telepathic  fellow- 
ship of  all  the  living  great,  and,  above  all,  aglow  with 
a  most  genuine  religious  zeal  and  faith. 

No  detailed  record  of  this  or  other  of  Joshua  Soule's 
years  in  Maine  has  been  preserved.  Unlike  McKen- 
dree  and  Asbury,  he  kept  no  journal,  nor  did  he  leave 
other  available  documents.  Bishop  McTyeire,  who 
twenty-five  or  more  years  ago  set  about  to  write  the 
memoirs  of  his  great  colleague,  abandoned  the  work 
because  of  the  paucity  of  material  at  hand.  But  a  new 
time  has  come,  opening  up  to  the  biographer  of  the 
father  of  the  Methodist  Constitution  not  only  new 
sources  of  information  concerning  the  earlier  years  of 
his  subject,  but  also  aiding  to  new  interpretations  of 
his  services  rendered  in  the  crucial  and  historic  years 
of  the  Church's  life.  The  story  of  these  earlier  years 
as  I  am  putting  it  together  from  point  to  point  has 
been  winnowed  from  the  pages  of  many  authors  or  else 
made  to  appear  through  a  study  of  the  experiences  and 
situations  of  several  of  the  Bishop's  contemporaries. 
However,  but  for  the  crown  of  distinguished  service 
pressed  upon  his  brow  in  later  years,  the  story  of  his 
earlier  sacrifices  might  have  been  as  hopelessly  lost  as 
were  those  of  others  who  labored  in  the  same  field. 
Dr.  Stevens  in  his  history  expresses  regret  "that  from 
the  deficiency  of  the  contemporary  records  of  the 
Church  names  which  should  be  precious  in  its  memory 
must  remain  in  its  annals  like  those  fixed  stars  of  our 
firmament  the  remoteness  of  which  occasions  alike  our 
ignorance  of  their  conditions  and  their  steadfastness  of 
position  and  brilliance." 

Like  Taylor,  Merritt  was  a  young  man,  and  had  been 


Among  the  Prophets.  47 

but  recently  ordained  a  deacon.  Thus  it  had  been 
Soule's  fortune  to  be  in  the  close  fellowship  of  only 
young  men — Mudge,  Stebbins,  Taylor,  and  Merritt. 
As  to  that,  however,  it  could  hardly  have  been  other- 
wise. Nine  out  of  every  ten  of  the  preachers  of  this 
period  were  men  under  forty.  Dr.  Coke  had  remarked 
upon  this  at  the  Christmas  Conference,  but  he  added  to 
his  observation  that  hardships  and  abundant  labors  had 
left  upon  their  faces  a  token  of  maturity  and  self-mas- 
tery beyond  their  years.  As  it  had  been  with  Soule  the 
year  before  while  traveling  with  Taylor,  so  it  was  in 
his  work  with  Merritt:  the  interest  of  their  parishion- 
ers largely  centered  around  the  younger  man.  This  was 
not  because  they  counted  him  as  already  having  at- 
tained, but  because  of  his  even  then  "giving  promise  of 
a  future  of  great  usefulness  and  commanding  influ- 
ence." Unlike  Asbury  and  McKendree,  the  third  great 
American  bishop — in  some  respects  greater  than  either 
of  the  others — manifested  destiny  from  the  moment  of 
his  entrance  into  the  ministry. 

The  congeniality  of  Merritt  and  Soule  was  great. 
They  mutually  thirsted  for  holiness  and  knowledge. 
As  described  by  one  who  knew  him  through  many 
years,  Merritt  was  possessed  of  a  rare  intellectual  vig- 
or. "His  judgment  was  remarkably  clear  and  discrim- 
inating, grasping  the  subjects  of  its  investigation  in  all 
their  compass  and  penetrating  to  their  depths."  He 
lacked  fancy  and  imagination,  and  in  this  was  not  an 
uncongenial  fellow-thinker  with  his  junior,  who  was 
from  the  beginning  most  severely  practical  and  logical. 
No  man  of  his  day  had  more  prominence  and  influence 
in  New  England  Methodism  than  Merritt.    At  a  later 


48  Life  of  Joshua  Soale. 

period  of  his  life  he  became  one  of  the  editors  of  Zions 
Herald  (Boston),  and  at  a  still  later  date  was  assistant 
editor  of  the  New  York  Advocate  and  Journal.  He, 
too,  lived  to  see  his  youthful  associate  attain  enduring 
distinction  as  a  leader  and  lawgiver  in  Methodism.  It 
is  thus  from  the  recorded  memories  of  the  few  of  Bish- 
op Soule's  early  comrades  who  lived  to  see  his  great- 
ness that  we  are  enabled  to  retrieve  enough  material 
to  reconstruct  even  the  outlines  of  the  story  of  his  be- 
ginning. 

The  result  of  the  joint  labors  of  Merritt  and  Soule 
on  the  Portland  Circuit  for  the  year  1799  was  a  fair 
increase  in  the  membership.  There  had  also  been  some 
growth  in  the  eastern  circuits,  and  a  new  work  had 
been  formed  in  the  district.  It  is  not  now  possible  to 
tell  how  much  the  real  increase  in  the  Portland  Circuit 
had  been  cut  down  by  emigration  eastward  and  the  de- 
tachments made  to  form  this  new  circuit.  The  suc- 
cesses of  those  years  is  not  to  be  gauged  by  the  figures 
found  in  statistical  tables.  The  seeds  of  future  harvests 
were  sowed  by  men  who  must  needs  leave  to  far-off 
successors  the  full  reaping.  The  reaping  came  in  a 
time  ordained  of  God ;  the  manner  of  sowing  was  not 
less  of  his  ordering.  There  were  at  the  beginning 
many  to  hinder.  These  hindrances  usually  took  a  con- 
troversial turn  of  more  or  less  bitterness.  Sometimes 
they  were  trivial  of  nature.  But  whether  one  or  the 
other,  the  polemics  always  found  "the  itinerating  ped- 
dlers" equal  to  the  issue. 

Many  were  the  consequential  discourses,  pamphlets, 
and  books  launched  against  Methodism  and  its  pioneer 
representatives  in  New  England.    I  have  just  laid  down 


Among  the  Prophets.  49 

an  old  volume  of  this  class  written  in  rather  fiery  style 
—  an  echo  of  the  attrition  of  Wesleyan  theology  against 
the  fixed  body  of  New  England  Puritanism.  The  au- 
thor deals  quite  severely  with  Asbury's  preachers. 
"Wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,"  "the  false  prophets  that 
should  come  in  the  latter  days,"  "the  itinerating  ped- 
dlers of  a  false  doctrine"  are  some  of  the  arguments 
offered  in  rebuttal  against  the  evangel  of  free  grace 
and  conscious  salvation  from  sin.  A  spirited  contrast 
is  also  drawn  between  the  "republican  Puritans"  and 
"the  monarchy-loving  John  Wesley,"  the  head  of  this 
adventurous  sect  of  new  Episcopalians.  Some  threat- 
ening prophecies  are  also  uttered.  The  miracle  of 
Methodism's  New  England  success  is  all  the  greater 
in  view  of  these  things.  But  a  time  was  at  hand  when 
New  England  Methodism  was  producing  and  exhibit- 
ing an  indigenous  ministry.  Joshua  Soule  was  the  ef- 
fectual answer  to  a  hundred  Puritan  anti-Methodist 
prophecies.  A  handful  of  corn  from  the  top  of  the 
mountain  now  seeded  the  furrows  of  the  most  distant 
valleys  and  hillsides. 

A  high  authority  in  New  England  Methodist  history 
describes  a  typical  revival  season  in  Maine  in  which 
Merritt  was  the  chief  human  instrumentality.  Its 
signs  were  those  which  marked  the  Jarratt  and  Shad- 
ford  meetings  in  Virginia  about  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolutionary  War.  The  fire  burned  from  house  to 
house  and  from  community  to  community.  The  hymns 
sung  through  the  wildwoods  of  Maine  were  not  dif- 
ferent in  word  or  spirit  from  those  sung  in  the  assem- 
blies of  Virginia.  The  miracle  of  the  Methodism 
of  the  eighteenth  century  was  its  victories  in  New  En- 
4 


50  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

gland.  With  New  England,  Methodism  received  Josh- 
ua Soule. 

Lynn,  in  the  eastern  part  of  Massachusetts,  had  been 
the  headquarters  of  Jesse  Lee  in  1793,  when  he  planned 
the  successful  invasion  of  the  Province  of  Maine.  The 
Conference  had  also  met  there  in  that  year,  as  it  had  in 
the  year  1792.  It  was  a  post  of  importance  to  the 
Methodists,  and,  being  midway  between  Maine  and  the 
southern  stations,  was  selected  for  the  session  of  the 
Conference  of  1800.  It  was  Soule's  first  Conference  as 
an  itinerant,  and  it  introduced  him  to  a  wider  fellowship 
of  his  brethren  than  he  had  yet  enjoyed.  Amongst  the 
important  men  of  his  day  whom  he  at  this  time  added 
to  his  acquaintance  were  Daniel  Ostrander,  George 
Pickering,  Thomas  F.  Sargent,  Joshua  Wells,  Elijah 
R.  Sabin,  and  Epaphras  Kibbey,  the  last  named  being 
that  year  appointed  to  Readfield  Circuit. 

Soule  had  now  had  well-nigh  two  years  of  experi- 
ence as  an  itinerant,  and  his  brethren  judged  it  safe  to 
intrust  to  him  the  undivided  responsibility  of  a  pastoral 
charge.  He  was  accordingly  assigned  to  the  Union 
River  Circuit,  the  southernmost  work  in  Maine,  and 
extending  from  the  Penobscot  to  the  British  line.  It 
was  a  new  work  resulting  from  a  rearrangement  of  the 
circuit  lines  of  the  previous  year.  From  the  statistics 
— the  only  clew  left  us — nothing  definite  can  be  learned 
concerning  the  work  or  the  progress  of  the  charge  dur- 
ing the  year.  It  was  an  immemorial  year.  Lost  was 
the  young  itinerant  in  the  wilds  of  a  primitive  land  in 
which  he  traveled  lonely  and  interminable  paths  which 
he  himself  often  blazed  or  broke  through  the  unmarked 
forests;  but  that  he  went  on  as  before,  "thirsting  for 


Among  the  Prophets.  51 

knowledge  and  holiness/'  there  can  be  no  manner  of 
doubt,  for  he  reappears  at  the  end  of  the  long  and  rec- 
ordless  year,  his  heart  aglow  with  zeal  and  his  face 
shining  as  from  a  vision  of  divine  glory  vouchsafed  in 
a  place  apart.  Silent  as  was  that  year,  it  is  certain  that 
it  was  during  its  months  that  it  was  discovered  to  his 
superiors  that  in  him  a  man  of  extraordinary  powers 
and  capabilities  was  beginning  to  develop. 

Early  in  July,  1801,  the  pastor  of  the  Union  River 
Circuit  repaired  to  the  ship  port  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Penobscot,  and  there  took  passage  for  Boston,  meaning 
to  go  from  there  to  Lynn,  where,  as  in  the  previous 
year,  the  Conference  was  to  meet.  The  not  unusual 
experience  of  a  sailor  befell  on  the  voyage.  Contrary 
winds  and  calms  played  havoc  with  the  ship's  schedule, 
so  that  before  Soule  could  reach  Lynn  the  Conference 
had  finished  its  work  and  adjourned.  He  had,  how- 
ever, been  approvingly  reported  of  by  his  elder,  admit- 
ted by  vote  into  full  connection,  and  elected  to  deacon's 
orders.  His  assignment  for  the  year,  he  discovered, 
was  to  the  Sandwich  Circuit,  in  that  region  of  Massa- 
chusetts contiguous  to  Cape  Cod.  The  Methodists 
were  not  numerous  in  that  quarter ;  and  as  it  was  at  the 
very  center  of  New  England  Puritanism,  great  things, 
in  the  sense  in  which  other  regions  had  received  the 
Wesleyans,  were  not  to  be  expected.  The  year's  service, 
however,  introduced  the  Maine  rustic  into  new  condi- 
tions and  such  as  were  calculated  to  quicken  his  intel- 
lectual motions  as  well  as  try  the  manner  of  his  faith 
and  convictions.  That  he  experienced  a  test  of  his 
spiritual  substance,  there  can  be  little  doubt;  but  the 
men  of  that  time  came  from  the  fire  like  gold  when  it 


52  Life  of  Joshua  Soak. 

is  tried.  During  this  year  he  laid  hold  upon  a  larger 
acquaintance  in  the  older  section  of  New  England  and 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  older  and  stronger  men  of 
the  connection.  He  had  for  presiding  elder  this  year, 
as  during  all  his  previous  itinerant  experience,  his 
warm-hearted  and  faithful  friend,  Joshua  Taylor.  For 
near  neighbors  in  the  work  he  had  Joshua  Wells,  on 
the  Nantucket  charge,  and  George  Pickering  and 
Thomas  F.  Sargent  on  the  Boston,  Lynn,  and  Mar- 
blehead  Circuit.  That  was  a  fitting  fellowship  for  one 
who  in  youth  bore  the  manifest  signs  of  future  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  greatness.  Southward  in  the  third 
New  England  district  were  also  such  men  as  Peter 
Vannest,  Phinehas  Peck,  and  Elijah  R.  Sabin,  with 
whom  he  must  have  had  early  and  comforting  inter- 
course. The  whole  itinerant  body  in  New  England  in 
those  years  was  knit  into  compactness  of  purpose 
through  the  dominance  of  a  spirit  of  unworldliness  and 
brotherly  affection.  The  pressure  of  opposition  from 
without  enhanced  the  centripetality  of  their  love.  In 
that  unity  and  testimony  they  were  irresistible. 

The  New  England  Conference  meeting  for  1802  was 
appointed  to  be  held  at  Monmouth,  Province  of  Maine, 
July  1 ;  but  on  the  way  thither  Bishops  Asbury  and 
Whatcoat  held  at  Cranston,  Rhode  Island,  on  June  20,' 
a  preliminary  meeting  or  conference  for  the  benefit  of 
the  preachers  in  the  two  southern  districts.  At  this 
meeting  Joshua  Soule  was  ordained  a  deacon,  he  hav- 
ing failed,  as  it  will  be  remembered,  to  reach  the  Con- 
ference of  the  previous  year.  Bishop  Asbury  was  in  an 
exceptionally  feeble  frame,  and  the  offices  were  taken 
by  Bishop  Whatcoat.    Bishop  Asbury's  Journal  speaks 


Among  the  Prophets.  53 

of  but  one  ordination  at  this  meeting.  The  candidate 
was  Joshua  Soule.  After  the  ordination  came  the  sac- 
rament; and  after  that  the  bishops  in  turn  preached  a 
full-timed  discourse,  and  then  the  memorable  session 
adjourned.  It  is  certain  that  Soule  did  not  go  on  to 
Monmouth  to  attend  the  regularly  appointed  session, 
and  that  he,  with  the  other  preachers  of  the  southern 
stations,  received  their  appointments  at  this  time.  Bish- 
op Asbury  says  that  at  the  Maine  sitting  there  were 
present  "fifteen  members  and  nine  probationers.''  The 
appointments  for  the  Maine  District  for  this  year  show 
eighteen  names.  Only  six  attendants,  therefore,  from 
the  Massachusetts  stations  would  have  been  necessary 
to  complete  the  number.  The  Boston  District  alone 
shows  sixteen  names.  Bishop  Asbury  also  names  the 
deacons  who  were  examined  and  ordained,  and  the 
name  of  Joshua  Soule  is  wanting. 

Like  the  Conference  held  at  Readfield  in  1798,  this 
Conference  at  Monmouth  was  one  long  remembered. 
From  two  to  three  thousand  people  attended.  Five 
sermons  were  preached,  and  Bishop  Asbury  closes  his 
Journal  note  on  the  occasion  with  the  hope  "that  many 
went  away  profited."  In  the  list  of  appointments  there 
completed  and  read  out  Joshua  Soule  was  assigned  to 
the  Needham  Circuit,  whose  nearest  preaching  places 
were  within  a  few  hours'  ride  of  Boston.  For  junior 
associate  he  had  that  year  Dan  Perry,  admitted  most 
likely  at  the  Cranston  meeting,  when  Soule  was  or- 
dained to  the  diaconate.  Perry  appears  to  have  been  a 
man  of  moderate  talents.  He,  however,  rendered  ac- 
ceptable service  and  advanced  to  the  order  of  elder,  but 
located  permanently  in  1809. 


54  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

As  with  Soule's  two  previous  years,  the  year  on  the 
Needham  Circuit  has  no  detailed  memorial  in  any  ex- 
tant record.  There  remain  but  the  bare  figures  of  the 
statistical  tables,  and  these  show  a  slight  decrease  in 
membership  for  the  year ;  but  the  testimony  of  being  a 
strict  disciplinarian,  borne  to  him  on  all  sides,  may  ex- 
plain this.  He  preached  and  demanded,  as  did  Asbury, 
the  observance  of  "the  Methodist  rule."  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  while  young  Asbury  was  advocating 
and  making  possible  the  mighty  scheme  of  the  Ameri- 
can itinerancy,  the  society  in  New  York  dwindled  in 
membership  under  his  rigid  disciplinary  rule.  Soule 
was  in  this  succession;  and  yet  he  was  known  to  be, 
both  as  a  pastor  and  bishop,  most  careful  not  to  apply 
any  rule  of  discipline  until  the  last  means  of  correction 
had  been  exhausted.  In  later  life  he  declared  that  he 
had  "scarcely  ever  found  a  case  in  which  persevering 
efforts  failed  to  restore  the  wanderer."  Perhaps  in  his 
first  experiences  he  was  himself  wanting  in  persever- 
ance in  this  office. 

The  Conference  appointed  for  New  England  in  1803 
met  in  Boston  the  second  Thursday  in  June,  being  the 
eighth  day.  Both  Bishops  Asbury  and  Whatcoat  were 
present,  and  both  were  feeble.  Bishop  Asbury 's  Jour- 
nal says :  "We  ordained  Joshua  Soule  and  Nathan  Em- 
ory elders,  and  Edward  Whittle  deacon."  It  is  definite- 
ly known  that  Soule  was  ordained  by  Bishop  What- 
coat to  the  eldership,  as  he  had  been  by  him  ordained 
the  previous  year  to  the  diaconate. 

It  may  be  remarked  upon  in  passing  that  at  this 
time  Bishop  Asbury  recorded  in  his  Journal  his  con- 
viction that  the  great  needs  of  Boston  were  "good  reli- 


Among  the  Prophets.  55 

gion  and  good  water."  He  would  not  mention  names, 
but  he  "could  tell  of  a  congregation  in  Boston  that  sold 
their  pastor  to  another  congregation  for  $1,000,  and 
then  hired  the  money  out  at  the  unlawful  interest  of 
twenty  or  thirty  per  cent.''  "How  would  it  tell  to 
the  South,"  he  asks,  "that  priests  were  amongst  the  no- 
tions of  Yankee  traffic?"  It  cannot  be  doubted  that 
Asbury  was  very  much  of  a  Southerner  in  his  day,  as 
Soule  soon  afterwards  became.  The  Boston  District 
for  1803  contained  thirteen  appointments,  served  by 
seventeen  itinerants.  The  fourth  appointment  in  the 
list  read :  "Nantucket,  Joshua  Soule." 

Nantucket  Island,  off  the  mainland  of  Massachusetts, 
with  its  neighboring  islets,  has  constituted  the  county 
of  Nantucket  since  the  organization  of  the  colony  into 
a  commonwealth.  In  colonial  times,  as  now,  it  had  a 
thrifty  population  engaged  almost  wholly  in  whaling 
and  cod-fishery.  It  was  such  a  community  as  invited 
and  attracted  the  early  Methodists.  In  1799  the  island 
was  named  as  one  of  the  Massachusetts  stations,  and 
Joseph  Snelling  was  placed  in  charge.  By  1803  nearly 
a  hundred  members  had  been  gathered  into  society. 
Perhaps  on  no  part  of  the  soil  of  New  England  did 
the  Methodists  meet  so  little  opposition  as  amongst 
the  crofters  and  hardy  fishermen  of  Nantucket  Island. 
It  can  be  imagined  how  cordially  they  would  welcome 
as  their  pastor  the  son  of  a  once  famous  seaman,  whose 
name  and  ship  may  no  doubt  have  been  remembered  by 
not  a  few  of  the  older  skippers.  It  is  equally  probable 
that  the  itinerant  found  there  some  of  his  own  kith  and 
kin,  the  near-by  coast  being  the  boyhood  home  of  his 
father. 


56  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

The  Rev.  Enoch  Mudge,  who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  one  of  Soule's  early  religious  advisers,  reported  in 
a  correspondence  had  with  Dr.  Abel  Stevens  that  while 
on  the  New  London  Circuit  in  1794  he  had  received 
into  society  on  probation  Sarah  Allen,  an  orphan,  then 
in  her  twelfth  year.  She  was  at  the  time  receiving  her 
education,  though  I  can  get  no  clew  as  to  whether  this 
was  at  New  London  or  Providence,  which  latter  place 
was  her  home.  This  Christian  maiden,  of  whose  youth 
so  tender  and  beautiful  a  memory  is  preserved,  and  of 
whose  devoted  years  of  womanhood  and  age  so  many 
testimonials  abide,  was  destined  to  be  the  wife  of 
Joshua  Soule.  On  the  18th  day  of  September,  1803, 
being  then  in  her  twentieth  year,  she  gave  her  hand  in 
marriage  to  her  itinerant  lover  and  went  with  him  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  the  year  on  his  circuit  in  the 
Atlantic  Island.  The  unbroken  felicity  of  their  mar- 
ried life  was  to  continue  for  more  than  four  and  fifty 
years. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Methodist  Proconsul. 

The  presiding  eldership  in  early  Methodism  was  the 
right  arm  of  its  power.  It  made  the  episcopacy  ef- 
fective— the  episcopacy  as  expressed  in  the  authority, 
personality,  and  policy  of  Francis  Asbury.  But  for  the 
''captains  of  tens"  even  the  apostolic  purpose  of  the 
captain  of  the  general  itinerant  host  had  become  in- 
creasingly ineffective,  and  the  host  itself  had  marched 
and  countermarched  in  the  ways  of  a  growing  confu- 
sion. Jesse  Lee,  presiding  elder,  very  largely  expounds 
the  history  of  the  first  stages  of  Methodist  propagation 
in  New  England,  while  the  triumphs  of  the  early  itin- 
erants in  the  West  are  closely  related  to  the  leadership 
of  William  McKendree,  their  local  overseer. 

Asbury  had  remarkable  insight  into  character,  but 
this  skill  in  character-reading  became  effective  through 
his  use  of  the  presiding  eldership.  When  he  sought 
an  official  representative,  he  almost  invariably  put  his 
hand  on  the  right  man.  The  men  who  constituted  the 
presiding  eldership  in  his  day  had  been  made  to  his 
purpose,  as  Arthur  made  his  knights.  They  had  be- 
come bone  of  his  bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,  thinking 
his  thoughts  and  animated  by  his  spirit.  They  repro- 
duced his  leadership  in  a  hundred  provincial  fields; 
they  divined  his  policies  afar  off,  and  made  them  ef- 
fective in  his  absence. 

As  the  connection  grew  in  membership  and  extent 

(57) 


58  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

of  territory,  the  office  of  the  presiding  eldership  grew 
in  importance  and  effectiveness.  The  incumbent  be- 
came an  ecclesiastical  proconsul,  his  authority  extend- 
ing over  the  face  of  whole  provinces  and,  in  some  cases, 
including  the  territory  of  several  incipient  States.  The 
talent  and  courage  of  the  initiative  were  expected  of 
him.  He  obeyed  orders,  but  his  orders  prescribed  a 
wide  latitude.  He  broadly  interpreted  the  statutes  of 
his  fraternity  and  brought  things  to  pass.  He  magni- 
fied his  office  and  made  it  forever  honorable.  But  his 
personality  was  the  main  asset  of  his  administration. 
Where  that  failed,  the  office  failed.  Nor  has  time 
changed  the  working  of  the  law.  The  episcopacy  itself 
comes  under  the  rule:  its  responsibilities  become  op- 
portunity to  the  man  providentially  called.  It  is  a 
great  office  when  great  talents  and  a  great  soul  are 
united  to  administer  it.  Methodism  is  a  personal  force 
throughout. 

Joshua  Soule,  the  man  of  what  marked  personality 
has  already  been  shown,  the  destined  expounder  of  the 
design  and  uses  of  the  presiding  eldership,  was  called 
to  administer  that  office  when  but  twenty-three  years 
of  age.  His  appointment  expressed  both  the  personal 
and  the  official  choice  of  Bishop  Asbury.  The  New 
England  Conference  for  the  year  1804  met  at  Buxton, 
Province  of  Maine.  Asbury's  Journal  contains  no  en- 
try concerning  the  Conference  session,  but  notes  many 
incidents  of  the  going  and  returning  journeys.  The 
particular  minute  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Conference 
which  concerns  our  narrative  is  this:  "District  of 
Maine,  Joshua  Soule,  presiding  elder."  The  extent  of 
the  commission  was  apostolic. 


The  Methodist  Proconsul.  59 

The  peculiar  phraseology  of  the  minute  was  justi- 
fied. The  presiding  elder's  district  to  which  Soule  was 
appointed  embraced  the  entire  Province,  or  political  dis- 
trict, of  Maine.  It  was  one  thousand  two  hundred 
miles  around  this  mighty  realm.  It  contained  twelve 
circuits  and  a  single  station.  From  the  marshes  and 
downs  of  the  near  sea  level  the  paths  which  the  itin- 
erant rode  climbed  the  shingly  declivities  and  the  in- 
land mountains,  compassed  innumerable  lakes,  crossed 
wide  streams  and  dashing  torrents,  and  penetrated  with 
tortuous  windings  darkling  forests  in  many  of  which 
the  sound  of  the  woodman's  ax  had  never  been  heard. 
He  sought  the  remotest  settlements,  made  regular  junc- 
tions with  the  courses  of  the  circuit  riders,  and  "shared 
fully  the  sufferings  of  the  early  itinerancy."  He  braved 
the  storms  of  winter,  lodged  in  the  cabins  of  squatters, 
or  slept  as  often  in  the  frost,  with  only  the  snow-laden 
branches  of  the  birch  for  a  roof.  And  for  what  earth- 
ly reward?  His  compensation  amounted  to  scarcely 
more  than  enough  to  meet  his  expenses.  But  the  divine 
Spirit  who  "selected  and  anointed  him  in  youth  for  his 
signal  achievements  in  the  Church"  gave  him  courage 
and  also  provided  the  needful  bread.  The  young  wife 
was  either  at  the  paternal  home  in  Sandy  River  Valley, 
where  the  chivalric  zeal  and  energy  of  the  first  Metho- 
dist preachers  he  knew  had  fired  his  heart  with  a  de- 
sire for  heavenly  adventure,  or  else  was  with  friends  in 
Portland,  where  his  first  pastoral  labors  had  been  given. 
During  two  years'  service  on  this  district  all  the  days  he 
was  permitted  to  spend  in  the  company  of  that  young 
wife  did  not  amount  to  three  weeks.    But  "she  had  his 


6o  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

spirit"  and  encouraged  him  to  endure  hardness  as  a 
good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ.* 

It  was  during  this  presiding  eldership  that  his  powers 
as  a  preacher  ripened  into  fullness  and  effectiveness. 
Nature  made  his  body,  his  featural  aspects,  and  his 
voice  into  an  instrument  of  mastery.  His  presence  was 
commanding,  and  before  his  mouth  was  even  opened 
his  hearers  confessed  his  authority.  Grace  and  pa- 
tient effort  had  added  the  substance,  the  passion,  and 
the  letter  of  the  message.  Three  things  make  a  great 
preacher — namely,  a  passionate  belief  in  the  truth  of 
his  message,  a  knowledge  of  its  contents  to  the  satura- 
tion of  his  mind  and  heart,  and  the  intellectual  and 


♦While  presiding  at  a  Western  Conference,  after  he  had 
been  more  than  twenty  years  a  bishop,  he  indulged  in  the 
following  eloquently  expressed  sentiments  stirred  by  a  review 
of  the  labors  and  providences  of  his  years :  "I  have  occupied 
the  humblest  cabin,  scarcely  supplied  with  the  necessaries  of 
life.  I  have  slept  on  the  earth  with  a  bearskin  for  my  couch 
and  the  heavens  for  my  protection.  I  have  bedded  on  snow 
from  three  to  four  feet  deep  with  the  heavens  spread  over 
me,  and  from  such  scenes  of  deprivation  and  exposure  I  have 
entered  the  stately  mansion  house  with  every  comfort  earth 
can  afford.  And  what  was  the  great  difference  to  me?  What 
matters  it  to  a  man  who  has  covenated  with  God  and  the 
whole  Church  to  devote  himself  wholly  to  the  work  of  saving 
souls,  whether  he  occupies  a  wigwam  or  a  palace,  so  that  he 
may  fulfill  his  sacred  vows  and  accomplish  the  glorious  work 
of  the  ministry?  To  such  a  man  all  outward  things  should 
be  equal.  His  bliss  depends  on  no  such  accidents.  Man's 
soul  is  an  empire  in  itself,  and  should  scorn  to  repose  on  such 
trifles.  I  declare  to  you,  brethren,  I  care  not  whether  I  fall 
at  home  in  the  bosom  of  my  family  or  far  away  among 
strangers,  so  that  I  may  fall  at  my  post." 


The  Methodist  Proconsul.  61 

physical  aptitudes  for  its  pronouncement.  These  all 
met  in  Joshua  Soule.  The  foundations  of  his  experi- 
ence were  deeply  laid  in  faith  and  love.  He  was  pro- 
foundly spiritual,  and  the  witness  within  had  been  con- 
firmed through  tests  that  left  his  confidence  steadfast. 
He  had  the  Pauline  passion  for  evangelization.  He 
was  but  little  in  debt  to  the  schoolmaster;  but  he  had 
found  a  private  key  to  the  "king's  treasures"  of  knowl- 
edge, and  had  appropriated  a  great  wealth  of  practical 
and  classical  information  which  he  used  with  facility 
both  in  conversation  and  public  discourse.  The  high 
tides  of  his  perorations  flowed'  easily  into  the  grandeur 
of  those  great  epics  and  prose  masterpieces  from  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  quote.  Here  it  was  that  deep  an- 
swered to  deep. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  these  words  are  written 
concerning  a  man  who  had  not  yet  fully  rounded  out 
his  twenty-fourth  year.  When  all  the  circumstances 
are  considered,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  history  of  the  pulpit 
furnishes  a  parallel  of  this  development  of  power  and 
mastery  in  expression  in  one  so  youthful. 

The  camp  meeting  and  the  other  evangelistic  adapta- 
tions so  effectively  used  by  the  Methodists  in  the  earlier 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century  were  coming  into  vogue 
in  New  England,  and  particularly  in  the  Province  of 
Maine.  These  furnished  great  assemblies  upon  whom 
the  preaching  of  the  youthful  presiding  elder  produced 
impressions  the  most  tremendous  not  only  as  to  the 
convincing  and  convicting  logic  of  its  gospel,  but  also 
as  to  its  mastery  of  form.  Of  his  sermons  at  this  time 
Dr.  Stevens,  the  Church  historian,  says:  "They  were 
reported  to  have  been  distinguished  by  that  breadth 


62  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

of  view  and  majesty  of  style  which  in  later  years,  not- 
withstanding some  abatement  through  the  variety  of 
his  responsibilities,  have  continued  to  mark  with  great- 
ness his  pulpit  efforts.  His  word  was  oftentimes  in 
irresistible  power,  bearing  down  upon  the  large  assem- 
blies which  collected  to  hear  him  like  the  storm  on  the 
bending  forest."  A  period  selected  from  the  perora- 
tion of  a  sermon  delivered  some  years  later  may  be 
taken  as  typical  of  that  "breadth  of  view  and  majesty 
of  style"  which  characterized  his  camp-meeting  and 
other  discourses  delivered  while  a  presiding  elder  in 
Maine:  "Man  is  subject  to  bondage  through  fear;  con- 
scious of  his  accountability,  his  sinfulness,  and  guilt; 
and  knowing  that  it  is  appointed  to  him  once  to  die, 
and  after  death  to  appear  in  judgment,  he  trembles  at 
the  thought  of  his  approaching  dissolution,  and  fears 
to  appear  in  the  presence  of  his  Judge.  Reason  affords 
him  but  a  feeble  support  in  the  hour  of  his  alarm  and 
trial.  Her  lights  are  but  dim  in  the  dark  valley  through 
which  he  has  to  pass,  and  she  casts  but  a  glimmering 
ray  on  the  scenes  of  eternity  which  lie  before  him. 
What  shall  dispel  his  doubts,  remove  his  fears,  support 
his  trembling  spirit,  and  illuminate  his  path?  What 
shall  fortify  him  against  the  terrors  of  these  tremen- 
dous events?  The  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
through  which  life  and  immortality  are  brought  to 
light;  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  the  fountain  of 
pardon  and  purification  in  the  grand  atonement,  the 
foundation  of  a  steadfast  and  lively  hope  in  its  exceed- 
ing great  and  precious  promises." 

Add  to  a  concourse  of  periods  like  this  a  sonorous 
voice,  a  commanding  figure,  a  masterful  personality, 


The  Methodist  Proconsul.  63 

and  an  exalted  and  tested  purpose,  and  you  discover 
the  hiding  of  the  power  that  bore  down  the  multitudes 
as  the  storms  bear  down  the  trees  of  the  forest. 

The  Minutes  for  1804  show  five  districts  in  the  New 
England  Conference.  Besides  that  of  Soule,  the  names 
of  the  presiding  elders  of  three  of  these  districts  are 
still  gratefully  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  New  England 
Methodists  and  also  of  Methodists  at  large.  These 
names  are  John  Brodhead,  Daniel  Ostrander,  and 
George  Pickering.  The  statistics  for  the  year  showed 
nearly  nine  thousand  members,  of  whom  two  thousand 
four  hundred  were  in  the  District  of  Maine.  This 
showed  a  net  increase  of  two  hundred  for  the  year  in 
the  district.  The  New  England  membership  was  al- 
ready half  that  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and 
the  two  thousand  four  hundred  in  full  connection  in 
Maine  probably  represented  an  entire  tenth  of  the 
population  of  the  Province.  Such  was  the  advance 
which  Methodism,  led  by  an  indigenous  presiding 
eldership,  was  making  in  the  newest  ''land  of  the 
Presbyterians." 

Soule's  second  year  as  the  Methodist  proconsul  of 
the  Province  of  Maine  was  in  all  likelihood  much  the 
same  as  the  first ;  but  as  with  the  first,  there  abides  so 
scant  a  record  of  its  work  that  it  could  be  put  into  a 
sentence  or  two.  What  is  certainly  known  stands  in 
the  statistical  tables  and  the  appointments  as  printed  in 
the  General  Minutes  for  the  year.  The  Conference  for 
New  England  met  at  Lynn  July  12.  Concerning  the 
session  Bishop  Asbury's  Journal  says:  "We  had  a  full 
Conference.  Preaching  at  five,  at  eleven,  and  at  eight 
o'clock.    Sitting  of  Conference  from  half  past  eight  un- 


64  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

til  eleven  in  the  forenoon,  and  from  two  until  six  in  the 
afternoon.  We  had  great  order  and  harmony,  and 
strict  discipline  withal.  Sixteen  deacons  and  eight  eld- 
ers were  ordained."  The  meeting  was  in  a  grove  near 
the  chapel.  For  the  text  of  his  closing  sermon  Bishop 
Asbury  chose  1  Thessalonians  ii.  6-9,  and  discoursed 
on  "The  Gospel  of  God" — its  content  (Christ)  ;  its 
privileges,  precepts,  power;  the  apostolic  purity  im- 
posed upon  those  who  preach  it.  With  this  utterance 
of  the  venerable  Bishop  as  a  new  injunction  and  in- 
spiration, the  successors  of  Lee  rode  away  to  their  dis- 
tant fields.  The  pastoral  sermon,  which  has  ever  been 
an  event  of  the  Methodist  Conference  week,  has  an 
extraordinary  significance  and  influence ;  but  that  also 
turns  on  the  larger  significance  of  personality — person- 
ality revealed  by  grace. 

Dr.  Nathan  Bangs,  writing  of  the  general  work  of 
Methodism  for  this  year,  says :  "Nothing  out  of  the  or- 
dinary course  of  things  occurred.  The  work  of  God 
went  gradually  on.  The  camp  meetings  spread  more 
and  more  in  the  Central  and  Northern  States,  and  they 
were  generally  attended  with  increasing  interest."  The 
same  writer  gives  an  account  of  one  of  these  meetings 
held  in  the  latitude  of  Maine  and  bearing  a  close  like- 
ness to  those  at  which  Soule  was  accustomed  to  utter 
those  mighty  and  torrential  discourses  which,  judged  by 
every  account,  were  characteristic  of  his  ministry  at 
this  time.  "The  meeting,"  says  the  historian,  "was  held 
in  an  open  field,  and  the  exercises  were  accompanied  by 
a  mighty  display  of  the  awakening  and  converting,  as 
well  as  the  sanctifying,  grace  of  God.  On  the  third  day 
such  awful  sensations  were  produced  under  the  preach- 


The  Methodist  Proconsul.  65 

ing  that  many  stout-hearted  sinners  were  bowed  before 
the  Lord,  while  the  people  of  God  were  filled  with  joy 
unspeakable." 

The  time  had  come  when  there  was  to  be  a  division 
of  the  vast  territory  comprising  the  presiding  elder's 
''District  of  Maine,"  but  the  incumbent  of  one  of  the 
new  overseerships  was  to  realize  that  there  was  to  be 
no  lessening  of  his  labors.  At  the  session  of  the  New 
England  Conference  held  in  Canaan,  New  Hampshire, 
June  12,  1806,  the  "District  of  Maine"  was  divided 
into  eastern  and  western  halves  and  called  respectively 
the  Portland  and  the  Kennebec  Districts.  The  larger 
and  newer  district,  the  Kennebec,  fell  to  Soule,  while 
the  Portland  District  was  put  under  the  charge  of  Oli- 
ver Beale.  Asbury  is  credited  with  saying  at  the  time 
the  appointments  were  made  that  he  should  have  con- 
sidered Soule  for  the  lighter  and  more  agreeable  task  of 
superintending  the  Portland  District,  only  he  feared 
Beale  would  fail  under  the  strain  and  hardship  of  the 
Kennebec  task.  Thus  again  did  this  master  of  spirits 
show  his  ability  to  weigh  as  in  his  open  hands  the  dif- 
fering substances  of  those  with  whom  he  dealt.  Beale 
rendered  acceptable  service  on  his  district,  and  was  in 
the  active  work  of  the  itinerancy  as  late  as  1840;  but 
he  was  never  a  Joshua  Soule. 

The  Kennebec  District  contained  the  old  Readfield 
Circuit;  and  thus  Soule  was  able  to  fall  back  upon,  or 
rather  retain,  his  home  at  Avon  as  a  base.  It  is,  how- 
ever, not  at  all  certain  that  this  was  the  fixed  residence 
of  the  family  during  any  considerable  part  of  his  pre- 
siding elder  experience  in  Maine.  But  wherever  the 
place  called  home,  the  faithful  wife  who  shared  his 

5 


66  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

spirit  made  it  bright  and  cheerful  for  his  returns  from 
long  and  laborious  visitations  on  the  district.  By  this 
time  two  of  their  children  had  been  born,  and  the  heart 
and  hands  of  the  young  mother  were  rilled  with  new 
and  growing,  if  still  happy,  cares. 

Dr.  Stevens  and  Bishop  McTyeire  agree  that  it  was 
the  exceptional  prosperity  of  the  Maine  District  under 
Soule  that  induced  Asbury  to  divide  it  in  the  way  de- 
scribed. The  increase  in  membership  had  been  healthy, 
though  not  extraordinary.  The  growth  emphasized 
was  in  other  directions.  Scattered  classes  had  been 
gathered  into  compact  organizations.  New  and  hope- 
ful preaching  places  had  been  established,  and  houseless 
societies  had  been  provided  with  chapels.  Most  of  all, 
the  presence  and  spirit  of  Methodism  had  been  recog- 
nized from  one  side  of  the  Province  to  the  other,  and 
the  whole  had  taken  tone  and  color  from  the  persistent 
energy  and  personal  traits  of  the  presiding  elder.  The 
preaching  of  the  rustic  master  of  the  pulpit  had,  in  fact, 
given  all  Maine  a  new  view  of  the  meaning  and  uses  of 
the  gospel.  The  knowledge,  too,  that  he  was  an  indige- 
nous product,  a  fellow-citizen,  added  a  pleasing  empha- 
sis to  his  message  and  leadership  and  secured  him  a 
ready  recognition  in  every  community  into  which  he 
was  called  by  his  labors. 

The  first  year  on  the  Kennebec  District  ran  from 
June,  1806,  to  June,  1807.  It  was  not  eventful  out  of 
the  ordinary ;  if  so,  the  record  of  such  fact  has  not  per- 
sisted. But  it  was  the  miraculous  that  became  the  ex- 
pected events  of  those  days.  The  men  of  the  saddle- 
bags, Bible,  and  hymn  book  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of 
fire.    Pentecost  marked  the  high  commonplace  of  their 


The  Methodist  Proconsul.  67 

thoughts.  It  need  not  be  claimed  that  they  possessed 
a  sanctity  above  the  men  of  the  ministry  to-day.  They 
perhaps  lacked  in  some  important  elements;  possibly 
their  emotions  were  sometimes  overstrained.  As  a 
rule,  they  were  not  men  of  culture ;  but  their  faith  was 
constantly  and  contagiously  alive.  In  that  faith 
they  preached  and  reaped  the  abundant  fruit  of  their 
sowing. 

It  was  during  this  year  that  Bishop  Asbury  carried 
around  to  the  Annual  Conferences  the  proposition  to 
call  a  convention  of  traveling  elders  for  the  purpose 
of  settling  the  superintendency  of  the  Church  on  a 
permanent  basis.  The  reason  for  this  call  was  the 
certainty  of  the  early  death  of  Bishop  Whatcoat  and 
the  fact  that  Bishop  Coke  was  permanently  engaged 
abroad.  The  plan  was  to  strengthen  the  episcopacy  by 
having  this  convention  of  elders  elect  one  or  more  col- 
leagues for  Asbury.  The  New  England  Conference,  as 
Bishop  Asbury 's  Journal  informs  us,  concurred  in  this 
call,  which  had  originated  with  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence, and  "seven  elders  were  elected  accordingly."  The 
names  of  these  delegates  are  not  given,  but  it  is  certain 
that  Soule  was  among  the  number  chosen.  Here  had 
no  doubt  been  given  an  opportunity  for  him  to  display 
that  extraordinary  talent  which  two  years  later  made 
him  the  man  of  the  hour ;  but  the  convention  was  des- 
tined never  to  assemble.  In  the  session  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Conference  which  followed  the  whole  scheme  was 
given  its  quietus.  The  time  for  settling  the  constitution 
of  Methodism  and  the  status  of  its  episcopacy  was  yet 
two  years  off.    History  waited. 

The  session  of  the  New  England  Conference   for 


68  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

1807  was  held  in  Boston.  The  collection  for  the 
preachers  reached  an  aggregate  of  but  $800.  As  this 
was  the  last  sitting  of  the  year,  Bishop  Asbury  was 
able  to  show  that  there  was  a  deficit  of  three  thousand 
dollars  for  the  connection.  Small  enough  seems  that 
deficit  at  this  day,  but  it  fell  heavily  on  the  needy  itin- 
rants ;  and  more  than  travel  and  toil  indicated  what 
these  heroic  men  and  their  families  were  called  upon  to 
suffer.  But  notwithstanding  this  shortage,  the  whole 
line  advanced.  Seventeen  deacons  and  elders  were  or- 
dained at  Boston.  It  is  now  only  eighteen  years  since 
Jesse  Lee,  solitary  and  unheralded,  entered  New  En- 
gland, in  which  was  not  so  much  as  one  member  in 
society ;  and  now  behold  seventeen  traveling  preachers 
ordained  in  a  single  year ! 

The  Conferences  for  1808  were  pushed  into  the  early 
and  middle  spring  so  as  to  clear  the  way  for  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  which  had  been  fixed  for  May  6. 
The  session  of  the  New  England  Conference  fell  on 
Easter  Sunday,  April  17.  "We  wrought  in  haste,  in 
great  order,  and  in  peace  through  a  great  deal  of 
business,"  wrote  Asbury  in  his  Journal.  After  sitting 
four  days,  exclusive  of  Sunday,  the  Conference  was 
ready  to  "arise."  All  eyes  were  turned  toward  Bal- 
timore. 

The  General  Conference  which  was  so  near  at  hand 
was  the  last  of  the  mass  conventions  of  elders  that  went 
under  that  name.  All  itinerants  of  four  years'  stand- 
ing were  eligible,  so  that  no  elections  were  had  for  del- 
egates in  the  Annual  Conference.  Intense  interest  cen- 
tered in  the  coming  session,  since  it  was  understood 
that  radical  changes  would  be  undertaken,  and  that  it 


The  Methodist  Proconsul  69 

was  to  be  the  last  gathering  of  its  character  in  the 
Church.  A  considerable  number  of  the  New  England 
preachers,  amongst  whom  was  Joshua  Soule,  pre- 
pared to  attend  this  General  Conference,  which  was  to 
sit  in  Baltimore.  Soule  had  just  been  transferred  from 
the  Kennebec  to  the  Portland  District,  where,  as  it 
fell  out,  he  was  destined  to  spend  a  full  term  of  four 
years.  He  had  therefore  only  to  arrange  for  the  re- 
moval of  his  family  to  Portland  and  set  some  prelimi- 
nary matters  in  order  before  beginning  his  journey 
southward.  Even  short  journeys  were  long  in  those 
days,  and  the  matter  of  time  had  to  be  calculated  with 
generous  margins  for  miscarriages  and  delays.  The  dis- 
tance from  Boston  to  Baltimore  was  steady  riding  for 
a  week.  The  sea  voyage  required  scarcely  less  time, 
and  was  far  more  uncertain.  From  a  mere  hint  in  the 
account  of  the  General  Conference  session  it  may  be  in- 
ferred that  the  New  England  representatives  had  gone 
to  Baltimore  overland,  and  that  in  a  body. 

The  fame  of  Soule  was  now  no  longer  provincial 
only.  The  General  Conference — the  first  which  he  at- 
tended— brought  him  into  the  broader  field  and  service 
of  the  connection.  "He  comes  forward,"  says  Bishop 
McTyeire,  "a  figure  and  an  influence  not  to  be  lost  sight 
of  for  the  next  half  century." 

The  history  of  American  Methodism  cannot  be  writ- 
ten, even  by  unfriendly  partisans,  without  making  hon- 
orable mention  of  his  name  or  leaving  a  wide  gap  that 
cannot  be  filled ;  for  in  addition  to  his  power  as  a  gospel 
preacher,  he  possessed  "the  plain,  heroic  magnitude  of 
mind  which  shows  its  presence  chiefly  in  affairs."  In 
the  councils  of  his  Church  he  was  what  Jefferson  and 


jo  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Hamilton  were  in  the  councils  of  the  State.  But  the 
story  of  Soule's  relations  to  the  epoch-making  General 
Conference  of  1808  is  matter  for  an  independent  chap- 
ter, in  which  will  be  undertaken  a  full  study  of  the  con- 
stitution and  of  its  author  in  that  historic  and  destiny- 
making  office. 


CHAPTER  V. 
Writing  the  Constitution. 

The  constitution  and  administrative  canons  of 
American  Methodism  complete  a  system  of  polity 
which  at  first  glance  appears  to  be  complicated  and 
involved.  A  careful  study  of  the  whole  will,  however, 
serve  to  remove  this  impression  and  show  the  scheme 
of  Methodist  government  to  be  a  logical  and  orderly 
relation,  historically  derived.  The  scheme  is  indeed 
the  result  of  persistent  evolutional  processes  which  be- 
gan in  the  paternally  governed  Methodist  societies  in 
England.  Some  of  the  crucial  and  more  important 
stages  of  the  development  of  methods  and  constitu- 
tional measures  were  covered  per  saltum;  but  still  in 
the  personalities  of  the  men  who  devised  and  effected 
these  transitions  the  law  of  an  orderly  and  logical  ad- 
vance was  embodied  and  justified.  In  the  transition 
of  its  polity  from  largely  unwritten  to  definitely  writ- 
ten principles' — a  preeminent  stage  of  advance — Meth- 
odism employed  chiefly  the  acumen  and  statesmanlike 
wisdom  of  one  of  its  younger  itinerants,  Joshua  Soule. 

In  estimating  the  significance  of  the  constitution  as 
first  drafted  by  Soule,  as  also  its  claims  to  a  high 
originality,  it  must  be  considered,  first,  how  completely 
it  conserves  and  conforms  to  previously  existing 
Methodist  ideals  as  well  as  to  those  which  may  be  said 
to  have  existed  prophetically  in  the  Methodist  spirit, 
and  yet  how  boldly  divergent  from  precedents — and, 
as  it  proved,  from  the  prevalent  sentiment  of  the  body 

(70 


J2.  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

itself — was  the  line  of  its  phrasing  and  inclusions! 
The  mastery  of  its  authorship  is  evident  after  the  most 
casual  reading,  and  it  was  that  mastery,  written  broad- 
ly through  the  whole  document,  which  caused  it  to 
prevail  over  a  normally  unfriendly  majority. 

It  has  been  contended  that  Methodism  had  a  con- 
stitution before  the  restrictive  writings  of  1808.  This 
contention  may  well  be  allowed,  and  not  on  the 
grounds  of  a  mere  courtesy  of  debate.  The  mass  meet- 
ing General  Conferences  legislated  and  the  general 
superintendency  administrated  under  certain  well- 
understood  principles,  and  were  restrained  within  cer- 
tain more  or  less  clearly  marked  bounds.  These  were 
dangerously  broad,  and  brought  new  perils  into  view 
at  each  successive  meeting  of  the  ecclesiastical  legis- 
lature. Nor  was  the  written  constitution  when  it 
came  a  complete  reduction  of  these  principles.  There 
is  still  a  field  of  legitimate  Methodist  action  without 
the  constitution,  but  always  subsidiary  thereto.  The 
constitution,  however,  took  the  highest  of  the  many 
courses  that  might  have  been. taken  by  an  act  of  the 
unchartered  body;  but,  significantly  enough,  it  took 
the  very  one  it  would  not  have  taken  had  the  majority 
been  left  to  follow  its  first  and  unconstrained  impulse. 
It  is  forced  upon  the  student  that  this  constitution 
came  at  the  last  moment  of  opportunity.  So  far  as 
human  judgment  can  say,  another  quadrennium  would 
have  defeated  it.  The  restrictive  enactments  ended  the 
tendency  toward  disintegration. 

The  consequent  manner  in  which  the  writing  of  the 
Church's  constitution  was  brought  about  is,  after  the 
instrument's  intrinsic  fitness,  the  pledge  of  its  binding 


Writing  the  Constitution.  73 

force.  This  fact.,  however,  the  men  of  the  epoch- 
making  assembly  of  1808,  including  the  father  of  the 
constitution  himself,  did  but  imperfectly  comprehend, 
as  they  but  imperfectly  comprehended  the  greatness 
and  serviceableness  of  the  thing  they  had  brought  to 
pass.  And  this  also  is  of  logic  and  agreeable  to  ex- 
perience. Time  is  the  true  interpreter.  The  greater 
a  creation,  the  longer  will  be  the  perspective  demanded 
by  the  eye  that  is  to  take  it  in. 

Three  persistent  and  sufficient  causes  produced  in 
the  Church  the  demand  for  a  written  constitution.  I 
shall  notice  these  not  in  the  order  of  their  weight  or 
urgency  as  considered  at  the  time  of  action,  but  in 
the  order  of  their  arising  in  Methodism  as  the  effects 
of  unfinished  devices  or  the  results  of  long-accepted 
plans  that  threatened  miscarriage. 

The  state  and  status  of  the  episcopacy  constituted  the 
question  of  longest  standing  in  the  Church  which  called 
for  definite  treatment  in  a  fundamental  writing.  But 
though  this  was  the  oldest  of  the  several  issues,  it 
gave  least  concern  to  the  connection.  However,  it  was 
early  seen  that  both  the  protection  and  the  regulation 
of  the  office  would  have  to  be  provided  for  in  some 
enduring  way,  and  this  necessity  was  constantly  em- 
phasized by  the  obtrusion  of  the  other  issues. 

The  American  societies  had  accepted  the  episcopacy 
as  part  of  the  patrimony  bequeathed  to  them  by  Wes- 
ley. Receiving  it  in  this  fashion,  they  proceeded 
through  their  official  heads  to  adopt  and  adapt  it.  So 
that  while  it  may  be  said  that  American  Methodism 
received  its  episcopacy  from  Wesley,  it  gave  to  the 
office  such  a  status  as  it  chose.    Up  to  1808  there  had 


74  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

been  no  turning  back  from  the  definition  and  settle- 
ment of  the  episcopacy  in  1784.  Indeed,  the  doctrine 
of  the  superintendency  then  accepted  had  been  re- 
peatedly affirmed.  It  was  not  to  alter  or  in  any  wise 
modify  the  episcopal  office  that  a  writing  was  desired, 
but  rather  to  fix  it  within  the  limits  of  what  were  be- 
lieved to  be  the  standards  of  the  New  Testament  and 
the  demands  of  expediency.  Bishop  Asbury  was  filially 
trusted  by  the  great  body  of  the  preachers,  but  it  was 
foreseen  that  another  with  his  lease  of  power  might 
abuse  the  office.  Also  the  opposition  to  Asbury  and 
even  to  the  superintendent's  office  in  the  abstract  led 
these  same  loyal  ones  to  see  that  without  a  written  set- 
tlement the  time  might  come  when  the  office  itself 
could  be  overthrown.  A  doubly  restrictive  rule  was 
the  remedy,  though  the  sense  of  need  did  not  at  once 
bring  to  a  juncture  the  opportunity  and  the  man 
destined  to  produce  it. 

The  state  of  the  episcopacy  was  with  the  early 
Methodists  always  a  more  urgent  matter  than  its 
status.  When  Coke  and  Asbury  were  put  at  the  head 
of  the  newly  organized  Church,  in  1784,  it  was  felt 
that  the  largest  demand  for  oversight  had  been  met. 
Had  Coke  remained  in  America,  this  might  have  been 
the  case,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  he  possessed  the  ele- 
ments adaptable  to  episcopal  work  in  the  New  World. 
However  that  might  have  proved  in  the  end,  he  soon 
took  his  leave  and  was  never  reckoned  by  the  Ameri- 
cans as  more  than  a  nominal  member  of  their  episco- 
pacy. This  left  Bishop  Asbury  alone  on  the  face  of 
a  continent,  and  this  condition  was  to  be  continued  for 
sixteen  years.     The  General  Conference  of  1800  gave 


Writing  the  Constitution.  y^ 

him  a  colleague  in  the  person  of  Richard  Whatcoat, 
who  through  the  feeble  six  years  of  his  life  that  re- 
mained proved  to  his  associate  more  a  burden  than  a 
help.  Whatcoat  died  in  the  summer  of  1806,  and  at 
that  time  Bishop  Asbury  was  so  feeble  as  to  make  it 
seem  certain  that  his  end  was  nigh.  In  view  of  this 
distressed  state  of  the  episcopacy  the  New  York  Con- 
ference, as  has  already  been  noted,  submitted  to  the 
other  six  Conferences  for  ratification  a  plan  for  a  dele- 
gated assembly  to  meet  in  Baltimore  on  July  4,  1807, 
"for  the  express  purpose  and  with  full  powers  to  elect, 
organize,  and  establish  a  permanent  superintendency, 
and  for  no  other  purpose."  This  scheme  failed  by 
reason  of  the  opposition  which  it  met  in  the  Virginia 
Conference,  led  by  Jesse  Lee.  It  was  fortunate  for 
Methodism  that  it  failed. 

Defeated  in  their  scheme  for  a  delegated  electoral 
assembly,  the  preachers  of  the  New  York  Conference 
in  1807  sent  around  to  the  Conferences  a  memorial  to 
be  presented  to  the  General  Conference  to  meet  in  the 
succeeding  year.  The  chief  purpose  and  content  of  the 
document  subsist  in  the  following  excerpt — viz :  "We 
are  deeply  impressed  with  a  thorough  conviction  that 
a  representative  or  delegated  General  Conference  com- 
posed of  a  specific  number  on  principles  of  equal  rep- 
resentation from  the  several  Annual  Conferences 
would  be  much  more  conducive  to  the  prosperity  and 
general  unity  of  the  whole  body  than  the  present  in- 
definite and  numerous  body  of  ministers,  collected  to- 
gether unequally  from  the  various  Conferences  to  the 
great  inconvenience  of  the  ministry  and  injury  to  the 
work  of  God.     We  therefore  present  unto  you  this 


y6  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

memorial,  requesting  that  you  will  adopt  the  princi- 
ple of  an  equal  representation  from  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences to  form  in  future  a  delegated  General  Confer- 
ence, and  that  you  will  establish  such  rules  and  regula- 
tions as  are  necessary  to  carry  the  same  into  effect." 
This  memorial  was  concurred  in  by  the  New  England, 
the  Western,  and  the  South  Carolina  Conferences. 
The  great  central  Conferences  of  Baltimore,  Philadel- 
phia, and  Virginia,  whose  representatives  had  domi- 
nated all  previous  General  Conferences,  withheld  as- 
sent. 

The  situation  in  the  General  Conference  when  this 
memorial  was  presented  was  this:  The  memorializing 
Conferences  had  forty-eight  representatives  seated  in 
the  body,  while  the  nonconcurring  Conferences  had 
eighty-one.  The  outlook  was  forbidding  and  called 
for  a  brilliant  initiative  and  for  genius  of  leadership. 
Providence  had  haled  the  man  needed  from  amongst 
the  stuff,  but  neither  he  nor  the  Conference  had  yet 
been  made  aware  of  his  selection. 

One  strong  factor  in  the  situation  was  the  sympathy 
of  Bishop  Asbury  with  the  constitutionalists.  His 
potent  shadow  fell  prophetically  athwart  the  untrod- 
den lists.  Jesse  Lee  was  also  favorable  to  the  idea  of 
a  delegated  body — in  fact,  had  been  the  very  first  to 
suggest  it — but  he  was  confused  by  the  long  determina- 
tive influence  which  the  Virginians,  the  Baltimoreans, 
and  the  Philadelphians  had  exercised  in  the  affairs  of 
Methodism.  To  voluntarily  surrender  this  primacy 
was  no  easy  matter. 

The  General  Conference  met  on  May  6,  and  on  May 
9  the  New  York  memorial  came  up.    As  a  test  of  the 


Writing  the  Constitution.  JJ 

sentiment  of  the  Conference  touching  the  memorial 
Bishop  Asbury  asked  "whether  any  further  regulation 
in  the  order  of  the  General  Conference"  should  be 
undertaken.  The  vote,  a  viva  voce  response,  was  in 
the  affirmative.  Stephen  G.  Roszel,  of  the  Baltimore 
Conference,  moved  that  a  committee  to  draw  up  plans 
''for  regulating  the  General  Conference"  be  appointed. 
This  motion  also  prevailed,  and  Bishop  Asbury,  al- 
ways alert,  and  seeing  the  opportunity  of  history, 
moved  "that  the  committee  be  formed  of  an  equal 
number  from  each  Annual  Conference."  This  secured 
a  majority  of  the  committee  for  the  New  York  me- 
morial. Two  representatives  from  each  Conference 
were  by  motion  drafted  for  the  task.  The  personnel 
of  the  committee  was  as  follows — viz.,  Ezekiel  Cooper 
and  John  Wilson  from  the  New  York  Conference, 
George  Pickering  and  Joshua  Soule  from  the  New 
England  Conference,  William  McKendree  and  Wil- 
liam Burke  from  the  Western  Conference,  William 
Phoebus  and  Josiah  Randle  from  the  South  Carolina 
Conference,  Phillip  Bruce  and  Jesse  Lee  from  the  Vir- 
ginia Conference,  Stephen  G.  Roszel  and  Nelson  Reed 
from  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  John  McClasky 
and  Thomas  Ware  from  the  Philadelphia  Conference — 
fourteen  in  all. 

At  its  first  meeting  this  committee  conversed  largely 
on  the  provisions  which  the  report  to  the  General  Con- 
ference should  contain.  The  deliberations  issued  in 
an  agreement  to  appoint  a  subcommittee  of  three  to 
draft  the  report  to  be  submitted  to  the  General  Con- 
ference, subject,  of  course,  to  modification  or  emenda- 
tion by  the  large  committee.     The  subcommittee  con- 


7&  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

sisted  of  Ezekiel  Cooper,  Joshua  Soule,  and  Phillip 
Bruce.  Dr.  Charles  Elliott,  who  has  given  a  full  ac- 
count of  this  part  of  the  proceedings  in  his  life  of 
Bishop  Roberts,  says:  "When  the  subcommittee  met, 
it  was  agreed,  after  a  full  exchange  of  sentiments,  that 
each  should  draw  up  a  separate  paper  comprising  the 
necessary  restrictions  or  regulations  in  the  best  way 
he  could,  and  that  each  should  present  his  form  in 
writing,  and  they  would  then  adopt  the  one  deemed 
best,  with  such  amendments  as  might  be  agreed  upon." 
When  the  subcommittee  met  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
paring their  plans,  it  was  found  that  Mr.  Bruce  had 
written  nothing,  but  that  both  Mr.  Cooper  and  Mr. 
Soule  had  brought  in  carefully  drawn  plans.  After 
examining  the  two  writings,  Mr.  Bruce  fell  in  with 
the  plan  of  Mr.  Soule,  suggesting  only  slight  emenda- 
tions. Being  overborne  in  the  subcommittee,  Cooper 
agreed  to  the  submission  of  Soule's  draft,  although,  as 
it  seems,  he  claimed  the  right  to  submit  his  own  to  the 
large  committee,  and  this  he  did  when  that  commit- 
tee met  to  receive  the  subcommittee's  report.  "With 
some  slight  modifications,"  Soule's  paper  was  adopted 
by  the  large  committee,  and  was  then  handed  to  the 
General  Conference.  In  its  original  form  it  was  as 
follows : 

Whereas  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the  doctrine, 
form  of  government,  and  general  rules  of  the  United  Societies 
in  America  be  preserved  sacred  and  inviolable ;  and  whereas 
every  prudent  measure  should  be  taken  to  preserve,  strengthen, 
and  perpetuate  the  union  of  the  connection;  therefore  your 
committee,  upon  mature  deliberation,  have  thought  it  advisa- 
ble that  the  third  section  of  the  form  of  Discipline  shall  be  as 
follows — viz. : 


Writing  the  Constitution.  79 

Section  III. 
Of  the  General  Conference. 

1.  The  General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of  delegates 
from  the  Annual  Conferences. 

2.  The  delegates  shall  be  chosen  by  ballot  without  debate, 
in  the  Annual  Conferences  respectively,  in  the  last  meeting  of 
the  Conference  previous  to  the  sitting  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence. 

3.  Each  Annual  Conference  respectively  shall  have  a  right 
to  send  seven  elders,  members  of  their  Conference,  as  dele- 
gates to  the  General  Conference. 

4.  Each  Annual  Conference  shall  have  a  right  to  send  one 
delegate  in  addition  to  the  seven  for  every  ten  members  be- 
longing to  such  Conference,  over  and  above  fifty;  so  that  if 
there  are  sixty  members  they  shall  send  eight ;  if  seventy,  they 
shall  send  nine,  and  so  on   in  proportion. 

5.  The  General  Conference  shall  meet  on  the  first  day  of 
May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1812;  and  thenceforward  on  the 
first  day  of  May,  once  in  four  years  perpetually,  at  such  place 
or  places  as  shall  be  fixed  on  by  the  General  Conference  from 
time  to  time. 

6.  At  all  times  when  the  General  Conference  is  met  it  shall 
take  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number  of  delegates  to  form  a 
quorum. 

7.  One  of  the  general  superintendents  shall  preside  in  the 
General  Conference;  but  in  case  no  general  superintendent  be 
present,  the  General  Conference  shall  choose  a  president  pro 
tern. 

8.  The  General  Conference  shall  have  full  powers  to  make 
rules,  regulations,  and  canons  for  our  Church  under  the  fol- 
lowing limitations  and  restrictions — viz. : 

The  General  Conference  shall  not  revoke,  alter,  or  change 
our  articles  of  religion,  nor  establish  any  new  standards  or 
rules  of  doctrine  contrary  to  our  present  existing  and  estab- 
lished standards  of  doctrine. 

They  shall  not  lessen  the  number  of  seven  delegates  from 
each   Annual   Conference   nor   allow   a  greater   number   from 


80  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

any  Annual  Conference  than  is  provided  for  in  the  fourth 
paragraph  of  this  section. 

They  shall  not  change  or  alter  any  part  or  rule  of  our 
government,  so  as  to  do  away  episcopacy,  or  to  destroy  the 
plan  of  our  itinerant  general  superintendency. 

They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  general  rules  of  the 
United  Societies. 

They  shall  not  do  away  the  privilege  of  our  ministers  or 
preachers  of  trial  by  a  committee  and  of  an  appeal;  neither 
shall  they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  members  of  trial 
before  the  society  or  by  a  committee  and  of  an  appeal. 

Neither  shall  they  appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Book 
Concern  or  of  the  Charter  Fund  to  any  purpose  other  than 
for  the  benefit  of  the  traveling,  superannuated,  supernumerary, 
and  worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and  children. 

Provided,  nevertheless,  that  upon  the  joint  recommendation 
of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  majority  of  two-thirds 
of  the  General  Conference  succeeding  shall  suffice  to  alter 
any  of  the  above  restrictions. 

The  draft  made  by  Cooper  has  not  been  preserved 
to  us  in  its  entirety,  but  it  is  understood  that  it  dif- 
fered from  the  plan  of  Soule  chiefly  in  its  treatment 
of  the  episcopacy.  On  that  point  it  read:  'They  (the 
General  Conference)  shall  not  do  away  episcopacy 
nor  reduce  our  ministry  to  a  presbyterial  parity/' 
Soule's  paragraph  not  only  recognized  episcopacy  as 
a  fact,  but  let  the  plan  of  our  itinerant  general  super- 
intendency into  the  foundations  and  secured  it  there 
by  a  constitutional  restriction. 

The  report  on  the  Soule  resolutions  was  submitted 
on  May  16,  seven  days  after  the  appointment  of  the 
committee,  and  the  General  Conference  proceeded  at 
once  to  the  consideration  of  it.  A  long  debate  ensued 
in  which  Jesse  Lee,  the  original  proposer  of  a  dele- 
gated General  Conference,  opposed  the  resolutions  on 


Writing  the  Constitution.  81 


the  ground  of  "Conference  rights" — that  is,  the  in- 
herited rights  of  the  great  Central  Conferences  or  else 
the  rights  of  the  body  of  the  older  preachers  who  pre- 
dominated in  these  Conferences.  Probably  it  was  on 
this  ground  that  he  "advocated  seniority  in  preference 
to  the  election  of  delegates"  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence. With  this  contention  he,  with  others,  was  able 
to  maintain  the  debate  during  practically  the  entire 
day.  The  debate  promised  to  go  on  indefinitely;  but 
near  the  close  of  the  afternoon  session  Ezekiel  Cooper 
moved  that  further  consideration  of  the  report  be  post- 
poned until  the  Conference  should  decide  another  ques- 
tion— namely,  whether  the  Annual  Conference  should 
elect  the  presiding  elders  or  whether  the  bishops  should 
under  the  constitution  to  be  adopted  continue  to  ap- 
point them. 

Cooper,  as  his  proposed  constitution  showed,  treated 
the  episcopacy  as  "an  abstraction."  The  real  point  of 
his  policy,  however,  looked  to  the  election  of  seven 
bishops,  one  for  each  of  the  Annual  Conferences. 
Four  or  five  days  before  this  date  he  had  offered  such 
a  motion,  only  to  see  it  promptly  voted  down.  Now  he 
renewed  the  old  clamor — originating  with  O'Kelly — 
for  an  elective  presiding  eldership.  It  was  Soule,  as- 
sisted by  his  associate  delegate,  George  Pickering,  who 
defeated  Cooper's  scheme  for  seven  bishops,  which, 
had  it  carried,  would  have  meant  a  diocesan  episcopacy. 
He  now  set  himself  to  defeat  the  scheme  for  an  elective 
presiding  eldership.  After  more  than  half  a  day  had 
been  spent  on  the  Cooper  resolution,  Soule  moved  the 
previous  question  ;  but  the  motion  was  lost,  and  the 
debate  was  prolonged  into  the  morning  session  of  the 
6 


82  Life  of  Joshua  Soulc. 

third  day.  At  an  opportune  moment  Soule  interposed 
a  second  time  with  a  motion  that  the  vote  be  taken,  and 
this  time  his  point  was  gained,  when  the  vote  stood 
fifty-two  for  the  election  of  presiding  elders  and 
seventy-three  against.  Thus  was  this  important  ques- 
tion settled;  and  though  may  efforts  have  been  made 
to  change  the  rule,  it  has  remained  intact  in  the  con- 
stitution for  one  hundred  and  two  years. 

Immediately  following  the  defeat  of  this  measure  in 
the  General  Conference  William  McKendree,  who  had 
four  days  before  been  elected,  was,  by  Bishop  Asbury, 
ordained  to  the  office  of  a  bishop.  The  defeated 
advocates  of  an  elective  presiding  eldership  stood  about 
him  while  he  assumed  the  solemn  and  responsible  duties 
of  a  bishop.  He  was  to  have  them  standing  about 
him  many  a  day  thereafter ;  but  the  young  Maine  man 
who  had  that  day  cleared  a  way  for  him  to  enter  his 
office  was  to  remain  his  helper  and  abettor  through  the 
long  struggle. 

But  notwithstanding  this  initial  success,  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  was  by  no  means  assured.  On 
Wednesday  afternoon  it  was  moved  "that  the  vote  on 
the  first  resolution  of  the  committee  of  fourteen  be 
taken  by  ballot."  That  resolution  was :  "The  General 
Conference  shall  be  composed  of  delegates  from  the 
Annual  Conferences."  When  the  ballots  were  counted, 
it  was  found  that  the  measure  was  lost  by  the  slender 
majority  of  seven  votes.  The  result  was,  however, 
decisive;  the  constitution  was  lost.  The  consequences 
came  near  being  serious.  Great  excitement  prevailed, 
for  the  constitutionalists  attributed  their  defeat  to  the 
three  central   Conferences,   and   chiefly  to  the   Balti- 


Writing  the  Constitution.  83 

more  and  Philadelphia  contingents.  "The  New  En- 
gland delegates  asked  leave  of  absence,"  says  Bishop 
McTyeire,  who  undoubtedly  received  this  information 
from  the  lips  of  Bishop  Soule  himself.  The  Western 
delegates  threatened  to  ride  away  to  their  circuits, 
while  others  wept  or  sat  with  shadowed  faces  contem- 
plating what  seemed  the  end  of  connectional  Metho- 
dism. The  spirit  of  Soule  was  sad,  but  his  lips  spake 
no  word  while  he  awaited  the  final  outcome.  Bishops 
Asbury  and  McKendree,  after  much  persuasion,  pre- 
vailed on  the  dissatisfied  delegates  to  remain  over  a 
day  to  see  if  an  understanding  could  not  be  reached. 

After  the  lapse  of  four  days,  on  Monday,  May  23, 
the  vote  to  fix  the  time  and  place  of  meeting  for  the 
next  General  Conference  was  called.  Action  on  this 
motion  was  postponed  until  it  could  be  determined  who 
should  compose  the  General  Conference.  This  was  a 
motion  of  virtue  by  means  of  which  the  constitution 
was  diplomatically  introduced  as  a  new  question. 
Enoch  George  (afterwards  bishop),  seconded  by  Ste- 
phen G.  Roszel,  moved  "that  the  General  Confer- 
ence shall  be  composed  of  one  member  for  every  five 
members  of  each  Annual  Conference,"  and  the  mo- 
tion carried  by  a  decisive  majority.  Soule  then  moved 
that  the  method  of  selecting  delegates  in  the  Annual 
Conferences  should  be  "either  by  seniority  or  choice." 
In  this  manner  he  silenced  the  opposition  of  Jesse  Lee 
and  gained  in  him  a  powerful  ally  for  the  future  stages 
of  the  contest. 

From  this  point  the  current  of  action  ran  smoothly, 
and  with  unimportant  changes  the  original  draft  of 
Soule  became  by  legal  indorsement  of  the  General  Con- 


84  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

ference  the  constitution  of  the  Church.  For  the  use 
of  the  critical  reader  who  may  desire  to  make  a  com- 
parison of  the  two  forms  of  this  historic  document  the 
text  of  the  constitution  as  inserted  in  the  Discipline  of 
1808  is  here  reproduced: 

Ques.  2.  Who  shall  compose  the  General  Conference,  and 
what  are  the  regulations  and  powers  belonging  to  it? 

Ans.  1.  The  General  Conference  shall  be  composed  of  one 
member  for  every  five  members  of  each  Annual  Conference, 
to  be  appointed  either  by  seniority  or  choice  at  the  discretion 
of  such  Annual  Conference,  yet  so  that  such  representatives 
shall  have  traveled  at  least  four  full  calendar  years  from  the 
time  that  they  are  received  on  trial  by  an  Annual  Conference, 
and  are  in  full  connection  at  the  time  of  holding  the  Con- 
ference. 

2.  The  General  Conference  shall  meet  on  the  first  day  of 
May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1812,  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  thenceforward  on  the  first  day  of  May  once  in  four  years 
perpetually  in  such  place  or  places  as  shall  be  fixed  on  by  the 
General  Conference  from  time  to  time.  But  the  general  su- 
perintendents with  or  by  the  advice  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences or,  if  there  be  no  general  superintendent,  all  the  Annual 
Conferences  respectively  shall  have  power  to  call  a  General 
Conference,  if  they  judge  it  necessary,  at  any  time. 

3.  At  all  times  when  the  General  Conference  meet  it  shall 
take  two-thirds  of  the  representatives  of  all  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences to  make  a  quorum  for  transacting  business. 

4.  One  of  the  general  superintendents  shall  preside  in  the 
General  Conference;  but  in  case  no  general  superintendent  be 
present,  the  General  Conference  shall  choose  a  president  pro 
tempore. 

5.  The  General  Conference  shall  have  full  power  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  for  our  Church  under  the  following 
limitations  and  restrictions — viz. : 

1.  The  General  Conference  shall  not  revoke,  alter,  or 
change  our  Articles  of  Religion,  nor  establish  any  new  stand- 


Writing  the  Constitution.  85 

ards  or  rules  of  doctrine  contrary  to  our  present  existing  and 
established  standards  of  doctrine. 

2.  They  shall  not  allow  of  more  than  one  representative  for 
every  five  members  of  the  Annual  Conference,  nor  allow  of  a 
less  number  than  one  for  every  seven. 

3.  They  shall  not  change  or  alter  any  part  or  rule  of  our 
government  so  as  to  do  away  episcopacy  or  destroy  the  plan 
of  our  itinerant  general  superintendency. 

4.  They  shall  not  revoke  or  change  the  general  rules  of  the 
United  Societies. 

5.  They  shall  not  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  ministers 
or  preachers  of  trial  by  committee  and  of  an  appeal.  Neither 
shall  they  do  away  the  privileges  of  our  members  of  trial  be- 
fore the  society  or  by  a  committee  and  of  an  appeal. 

6.  They  shall  not  appropriate  the  produce  of  the  Book  Con- 
cern nor  the  chartered  fund  to  any  purpose  other  than  for 
the  benefit  of  the  traveling,  supernumerary,  superannuated,  and 
worn-out  preachers,  their  wives,  widows,  and  children. 

Provided,  nevertheless,  that  upon  the  joint  recommendation 
of  all  the  Annual  Conferences,  then  a  majority  of  two-thirds 
of  the  General  Conferences  succeeding  shall  suffice  to  alter 
any  of  the  above  restrictions. 

Thus  was  finished  the  work  destined  doubtless  to 
stand  through  centuries  and  to  serve  as  a  bond  of  the 
most  numerous  Protestant  body  in  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere. Not  a  few  amendments  have  been  made  to  its 
provisions,  but  the  strong  and  sinewy  language  of  the 
original  writing  remains  and  gains  in  perspicacity  and 
force  every  year.  It  can  be  safely  said  that  no  Meth- 
odist in  the  world  ever  erected  so  great  a  single  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  as  the  constitution  has  proved  to 
the  memory  of  Joshua  Soule.  Dr.  Charles  Elliott,  who 
lived  in  a  time  before  the  full  significance  of  the  con- 
stitutional restrictions  had  appeared  to  the  Church, 
said :  "To  a  very  considerable  extent  we  owe  to  Bishop 


86  Life  of  Joshua  Soule, 

Soule  the  restrictive  regulations — or  rather  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church — which 
exhibits  a  degree  of  wisdom  and  prudent  foresight  that 
characterizes  men  of  the  first  mental  powers.  In  fact, 
those  who  know  Bishop  Soule  would  expect  from  him 
the  wise  deliberation  necessary  to  produce  such  a 
measure." 

Of  Bishop  Soule's  powers  and  foresight  as  they  were 
brought  to  bear  on  the  writing  of  this  document,  Bishop 
McTyeire  says :  "One  obvious  advantage  of  Mr.  Soule's 
theory  will  be  accepted  as  an  offset  to  many  disadvan- 
tages :  it  promotes  connectionalism.  It  ties  and  bands 
the  Churches  and  Conferences  together.  He  succeeded 
in  getting  adopted  the  practice  and  rule  which  still 
holds  in  the  Church — of  being  scarce  of  bishops,  mak- 
ing but  few  and  giving  them  a  wide  and  equal  interest 
in  all  the  Conferences  and  all  the  Conferences  an  equal 
interest  in  them.  It  was  a  breadth  of  mission  which 
suited  well  his  own  elevated  nature  and  ample  powers 
when  in  time  he  was  called  to  it." 

As  a  view  of  the  even  broader  results  and  pledges 
of  this  constitution  I  may  give  here  the  opinion  con- 
cerning it  expressed  by  an  eminent  Wesleyan  preacher 
of  the  last  century,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dixon,  who  visited 
the  continent  as  fraternal  messenger  from  the  Wes- 
leyan Conference  in  1848.  He  says:  "Here,  then,  we 
have  the  Magna  Charta  of  Methodism  in  the  States. 
This  document  indicates  the  good  sense  and  the  dili- 
gent forethought  of  those  who  framed  it  We  see 
from  it  that  the  American  Methodists  are  no  revolu- 
tionists, and  that  they  desire  to  escape  such  a  catas- 
trophe.   The  legislative  power  is  not  at  liberty  to  alter 


Writing  the  Constitution.  87 

anything  deemed  fundamental.  This  limits  the  func- 
tions of  the  assembled  ministers  within  what  may  be 
considered  a  settled  and  fully  recognized  constitution. 
This  constitution  supposes  various  points  as  already 
settled,  to  which  all  agree,  and  which  are  not  to  be 
disturbed.  The  doctrines  of  the  Church  are  amongst 
these  fundamental  principles.  Here  innovation  gen- 
erally begins,  when  Churches  decline.  The  loss  of 
vital  religion  always  causes  the  truths  of  the  evan- 
gelical system  to  become  tasteless.  .  .  .  The  age 
and  circumstances  favor  this  sort  of  adventurous  spirit. 
It  must  consequently  be  considered  a  wise  arrange- 
ment, that  the  great  truths  of  the  evangelical  system 
embodied  in  their  articles  of  religion  are  not  to  be 
altered." 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  held  in  Baltimore  in 
May,  1908,  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  adop- 
tion of  the  constitution  was  duly  and  appropriately 
celebrated.  On  that  occasion  Rev.  Charles  W.  Smith, 
D.D.,  editor  of  the  Pittsburg  Christian  Advocate,  who 
was  some  days  later  elected  to  the  episcopacy,  read  a 
very  ably  written  paper  on  "The  Constitution  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  in  which  he  used  this 
language:  "When,  therefore,  we  discuss  the  constitu- 
tion as  it  is,  we  are  considering  the  document  substan- 
tially as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  its  framers.  This 
is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  shows  the  wisdom  and  fore- 
sight of  the  fathers  and  the  conservatism  of  their 
sons." 

The  writer  of  this  biography  also  had  the  honor  to 
deliver  one  of  the  addresses  on  that  historic  occasion, 


88  Life  of  Joshua  Souk. 

being  the  invited  representative  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South.  He  may  modestly  say  that  he 
took  occasion  to  exalt  the  name  and  memory  of  that 
one  of  "the  fathers"  to  whom  the  chief  honor  of  fram- 
ing the  constitution  is  due.  Although  this  man  out 
of  whose  hands  the  book  of  the  law  departed  not  was 
a  son  of  the  northernmost  North  of  our  land,  it  seemed, 
and  was  accepted  as  fitting,  because  of  his  happy  iden- 
tification with  the  children  of  the  South,  that  a  South- 
ern Methodist — one  from  the  southernmost  South — 
should  on  that  great  occasion  stand  to  remind  the 
universal  house  of  Episcopal  Methodism  of  its  in- 
debtedness to  him  for  that  bond  which  has  united  us 
more  than  all  things  else  save  the  grace  of  God  alone. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
An  Intercalary  Period. 

A  surviving  member  of  Bishop  Soule's  family  has 
recalled  that  in  his  later  years  he  was  accustomed  to 
refer  with  conscious  satisfaction  to  the  fact  that  he 
had  preserved  nothing  which  had  been  written  con- 
cerning himself  either  to  his  praise  or  disparagement. 
He  discouraged  the  writing  of  biographical  sketches  of 
himself  during  his  lifetime,  and  the  matter  for  the  few 
which  were  written  was  evidently  furnished  by  other 
hands  than  his.  I  reach  this  conclusion  after  having 
examined  all  such  sketches  of  which  I  can  hear,  and 
find  them  built  up  around  a  few  identical  facts  drawn 
from  a  common  repository.  At  no  period  of  his  life 
was  he  provident  of  letters  or  other  written  documents 
that  might  have  served  as  side  lights  on  his  life  story 
or  even  on  the  larger  history  of  his  times.  Perhaps  the 
Church  in  all  modern  times  has  not  seen  a  man  so 
intrinsically  great  who  was  so  indifferent  to  popular 
applause  or  criticism  or  who  sought  less  after  per- 
sonal glory  and  fame. 

The  secret  of  the  absence  from  this  biography  of 
the  lighter  and  perhaps  more  humanlike  details  of  his 
story  is  now  an  open  one  between  me  and  my  readers ; 
but  we  may  mutually  congratulate  ourselves  that  the 
great  points  in  the  life  of  this  man  of  deeds  are  like  a 
city  set  upon  a  hill  which  cannot  be  hid. 

The  four  years  which  Soule  spent  as  presiding  elder 
of  the  Portland  District,  although  they  brought  him 

(89) 


90  Life  of  Joshua  SoitJe. 

fully  before  the  Church  and  made  him  the  leader  and 
lawgiver  of  Methodism,  are  almost  as  nearly  record- 
less,  so  far  as  concerns  the  details  of  his  district  work, 
as  were  the  years  spent  on  Union  River  Circuit  and 
Nantucket  Island.  But  in  studying  what  has  come 
to  our  knowledge  touching  those  years  the  man  mov- 
ing in  the  midst  of  it  bulks  with  the  outlines  of  Saul 
in  the  shadowy  interior  of  his  tent. 

The  New  England  Conference  for  1809  met  at  Mon- 
mouth, Province  of  Maine,  and  within  the  bounds 
of  the  Portland  District.  Soule  was  therefore  the 
chief  host  of  the  assembly.  "We  sat  closely  at  work/' 
observed  Bishop  Asbury  in  his  Journal.  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree  was  also  present,  it  being  his  first  visit  to 
that  quarter  of  the  continent.  A  significant  entry  made 
by  Asbury  in  his  Journal  of  even  date  with  the  one 
above  noted  points  to  the  fact  that  his  colleague  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  administration.  McKendree's 
face  being  new  to  all  the  people  and  to  most  of  the 
preachers,  his  coming  naturally  aroused  much  interest. 
His  preaching  and  presidency  greatly  impressed  the 
Conference  and  the  public.  Three  thousand  people 
were  in  daily  attendance,  and  eighty  itinerants  re- 
ported on  the  work.  There  were  twenty-eight  ordina- 
tions to  the  two  orders. 

It  was  now  that  Bishop  Asbury  fully  realized  the 
vastness  and  difficulties  of  the  work  in  upper  New  En- 
gland, and  especially  in  Maine.  It  was  now  also  that 
he  lamented  his  lack  of  knowledge  concerning  both  the 
men  and  the  field.  Asbury's  superintendency  had  from 
the  beginning  been  one  suggested  by  a  thorough  famil- 
iarity with  the  itinerants  and  their  charges,  but  his 


An  Intercalary  Period.  91 

knowledge  at  last  failed  to  keep  pace  with  the  recruited 
ranks  or  the  new  reaches  across  which  they  moved. 
Bishop  McKendree  had,  however,  already  brought  into 
being  the  bishop's  cabinet — a  logical  factor  in  Metho- 
dist polity — and  was  relying  upon  the  presiding  elders 
for  a  knowledge  of  the  local  fields  and  the  men  em- 
ployed upon  them  which,  because  of  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  connection,  no  bishop  could  acquire.  It  was 
now  that  the  true  and  constitutional  ideal  of  the  pre- 
siding eldership  began  to  emerge.  McKendree  was 
the  Church  statesman  who  opened  to  it  the  door  of 
historic  and  prophetic  usefulness.  Soule  was  quick  to 
take  the  statesmanlike  view  of  it.  Between  him  and 
McKendree  there  existed  already  a  strong  personal  at- 
tachment. A  confidence  sprang  up  and  grew  steadily 
until  it  became  a  passionate  friendship.  This  also  was 
of  providence,  as  of  the  logic  of  likes,  for  they  twain 
being  knit  together  in  unity  of  purpose  were  called  in 
after  years  to  conduct  the  afTairs  of  Methodism  through 
the  most  trying  stages  of  its  history.  "These  two," 
says  Bishop  McTyeire,  "stand  related  as  were  Elijah 
and  Elisha."  The  mantle  of  McKendree  when  he  as- 
cended fell  upon  Soule. 

From  1799,  when  he  was  with  Timothy  Merritt  on 
Portland  Circuit,  to  the  end  of  his  quadrennium  on 
the  Portland  District — nearly  fourteen  years — Joshua 
Soule  was  closely  identified  with  the  city  of  Portland, 
and  came  to  be  one  of  its  best-known  and  most  influen- 
tial citizens.  During  his  later  lifetime  the  popular  mind 
thought  of  his  New  England  history  only  in  connec- 
tion with  the  metropolis  of  his  native  State.  I  have 
the  recollection  of  having  consulted  at  least  one  cyclo- 


92  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

pedia  of  biography  that  gave  Portland  as  the  place  of 
his  birth.  The  impress  of  his  large-spirited  activity 
and  sane  thinking  cannot  have  wholly  passed  from  the 
life  and  manners  of  the  place  where  he  so  long  had 
his  home.  In  the  life  and  thought  of  that  city  there  is 
to-day  much  with  which  the  memory  of  the  best  and 
proudest  might  be  happily  associated.  Epictetus  asked 
for  a  city  of  wise  men;  but  a  truer  as  well  as  a  more 
sympathetic  oracle  promised  not  only  the  salvation  but 
the  sanctification  of  a  city  in  which  even  a  leaven  of 
righteous  men  might,  peradventure,  be  found.  The 
reputation  of  the  State  of  Maine  for  sobriety  and  high 
ethical  ideals  may  well  be  the  renown  of  the  men  who 
digged  about  the  roots  of  its  life  when  these  roots  were 
tender  and  responsive  to  care. 

There  was  a  fellowship  of  great  spirits  in  the  work 
in  this  field  during  this  period.  Of  it  Dr.  Bangs  says : 
"Through  the  labors  of  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Elijah  Hedding,  Joshua  Soule,  Thomas  Branch,  John 
Brodhead,  Elijah  R.  Sabin,  and  Oliver  Beale,  who  were 
this  year  the  presiding  elders  in  the  New  England  Con- 
ference, Methodism  was  gradually  and  in  some  places 
powerfully  advancing,  both  in  the  older  and  in  some 
of  the  newer  settlements.  While  Thomas  Branch  was 
leading  forward  the  young  men  under  his  care  in  Ver- 
mont, Elijah  Hedding  was  equally  indefatigable  in  ex- 
ploring the  settlements  and  villages  among  the  hills 
and  valleys  of  New  Hampshire;  and  the  Province  of 
Maine  was  blessed  with  the  labors  of  Joshua  Soule  and 
Oliver  Beale,  whose  example  in  the  work  committed 
to  their  care  stimulated  the  preachers  on  their  respec- 
tive districts  to  activity  and  diligence." 


An  Intercalary  Period.  93 

Another  historian  of  Methodism,  Dr.  Stevens,  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  Soule  during  the  time  of  his 
presidency  over  the  Portland  District  had  under  his 
immedate  direction  such  men  as  Martin  Ruter,  Epa- 
phras  Kibby,  Ebenezer  Blake,  Charles  Virgin,  Daniel 
Fillmore,  Samuel  Hillman,  "and  others  of  familiar 
name  in  the  New  England  Churches."  These  were  all 
of  one  mind.  "They  had  hard  struggles,  but  glorious 
victories  in  spreading  the  truth  through  the  wilds  of 
Maine." 

Martin  Ruter,  of  honorable  mention  in  the  above 
list,  had  a  still  more  adventurous  experience  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  new  republic  of  Texas  nearly  thirty 
years  after  this.  The  decisive  battle  of  San  Jacinto, 
fought  on  April  21,  1836,  gave  independence  and  Eng- 
lish ideals  to  a  country  which  had  been  Latin  both  in 
faith  and  government.  The  patriots  published  an  in- 
stant welcome  to  Christian  missionaries,  and  the  Meth- 
odists responded  without  delay.  Martin  Ruter,  then 
President  of  Alleghany  College,  was  appointed  super- 
intendent of  the  newly  planned  work,  with  Littleton 
Fowler  and  Robert  Alexander  as  assistants.  Alexan- 
der and  Fowler  entered  the  republic  some  time  in  ad- 
vance of  their  chief,  and  began  at  once  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  what  has  become  the  imperial  Metho- 
dism of  the  State  of  Texas.  Ruter  followed  some 
months  later,  preached  before  the  Texas  Congress  at 
Houston,  and  after  traversing  the  field  planted  a  num- 
ber of  stations  advantageously,  and  also  "devised  lib- 
eral things  for  education."  Full  of  enthusiastic  faith 
in  the  future  of  the  work  to  which  he  had  been  called, 
he  started  in  1829  to  meet  his  family  and  remove  them 


94  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

to  the  republic,  but  was  seized  with  a  fever  while  on 
his  journey  and  "made  his  honored  grave  in  the  mis- 
sion field."  An  educational  foundation  later  known  as 
"Martin  Ruter  College"  and  still  a  later  known  as 
"Soule  University,"  both  being  in  Washington  Coun- 
ty, Texas,  were  the  origin  of  what  is  now  the  South- 
western University  at  Georgetown.  Thus  has  the  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  fellowship  of  those  two  early 
Maine  colaborers  found  an  enduring  memorial  in  a 
land  and  amongst  a  people  of  whom  neither  of  them 
at  that  time  so  much  as  dreamed. 

The  General  Conference  of  1812  came  on  about  one 
month  before  the  close  of  Soule's  fourth  year  on  the 
Portland  District.  At  the  session  of  the  New  England 
Conference  held  at  Barnard,  Vermont,  in  the  previous 
year  the  new  order  under  the  constitution  was  ob- 
served, the  legal  quota  of  delegates  to  sit  in  the  gen- 
eral body  being  returned  A  count  of  the  membership 
of  the  Conference  showed  that  it  was  entitled  to  nine 
representatives.  Joshua  Soule  was  the  fourth  in  order 
of  those  elected.  The  name  of  George  Pickering  led 
the  list.  This  Conference  also  named  certain  reserve 
delegates,  that  the  body  might  suffer  no  diminish- 
ing of  its  legal  voting  or  electoral  influence  through 
the  sickness  or  chance  absence  of  any  of  its  principal 
delegates.  The  memory  of  the  long  preponderance  of 
the  central  Conferences  in  the  general  sitting  was 
fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  border  itinerants.  There  was 
still  a  heavy  mass  of  votes  in  these  central  Conferences, 
and  the  old  temptation  to  rule  by  arithmetic  might  re- 
turn. The  men  of  the  North  were  resolved  to  take  no 
chance  that  could  be  successfully  anticipated.     It  is 


An  Intercalary  Period.  95 

likely  that  Pickering  and  Soule  originated  this  reserve 
list.  At  any  rate,  it  is  to  be  credited  to  the  New 
England  Conference,  and  quickly  became  the  rule 
throughout  the  connection,  and  is  now  invariably  ob- 
served in  both  branches  of  the  Church. 

The  General  Conference  of  1812  tested  the  strength 
of  the  constitution ;  but  the  fears  of  many  that  it  might 
develop  weak  places  in  that  document  and  issue  in  con- 
fusion were  not  realized.  Neither  were  met  the  ex- 
pectations of  others  that,  in  spite  of  it,  the  long-dis- 
cussed scheme  for  an  elective  presiding  eldership  would 
be  put  through.  An  effort,  led  by  Jesse  Lee  and  Nicho- 
las Snethen,  was  indeed  made  to  secure  the  passage 
of  such  a  measure,  but  it  went  the  way  of  its  predeces- 
sors. Two  days  were  given  to  the  debate — a  profitless 
indulgence,  for  every  member  of  the  Conference  was 
perfectly  familiar  from  the  first  with  the  arguments  to 
be  set  forth,  pro  and  con.  The  two  bishops  were 
known  to  be  committed  against  the  measure.  They 
looked  to  Soule,  who,  impelled  by  his  own  knowledge 
of,  and  his  interest  in,  the  constitution,  had  taken  a 
strong  position  in  the  negative,  though  several  of  his 
Conference  colleagues  were  against  him.  Knowing 
that  the  vote  would  likely  fix  the  issue  permanently, 
each  side  hesitated  to  take  the  step  of  closing;  but 
finally  the  question  was  put  and  lost,  though  not  by  a 
vote  which  its  advocates  were  willing  to  accept  as 
finally  decisive.  The  issue,  therefore,  remained  in  the 
Church  a  source  of  unrest  for  nearly  a  score  of  years 
thereafter. 

In  this  session  of  the  General  Conference  Soule  was 
made  the  chairman  of  a  committee  appointed  to  con- 


96  Life  of  Joshua  Soule, 

sider  that  part  of  Bishop  McKenclree's  address  which 
referred  to  the  status  and  relation  of  local  preachers. 
In  the  General  Conference  of  1816  he  was  intrusted 
with  the  same  chairmanship.  The  deliberations  on  this 
matter  during  those  two  years  resulted  in  settling  the 
office  of  local  preacher  in  that  relation  which,  with 
slight  modifications,  it  has  retained  to  the  present  day. 

In  the  debates  on  the  temperance  measures  pro- 
posed at  this  session  Soule  also  took  a  prominent  part 
and  assumed  an  aggressive  attitude  in  the  demands 
which  he  and  his  protagonists  made  for  stringent  meas- 
ures against  both  people  and  preachers  who  distilled 
grain  into  spirits.  It  is  certain  that  Neal  Dow  and  his 
fellow-prohibitionists  had  in  him  a  worthy  antecessor. 
Of  the  part  which  he  took  in  the  burning  issue  of  this 
and  the  succeeding  session — the  presiding  elder  ques- 
tion— it  is  reserved  to  us  to  speak  later. 

On  June  18,  1812,  the  United  States  declared  war 
against  England.  In  some  quarters  of  the  connection 
the  preachers  and  their  flocks  were  as  much  distressed 
by  this  war  as  their  earlier  brethren  had  been  by  the 
conditions  resulting  from  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
The  results  were  felt  chiefly  along  the  Canadian  bor- 
der and  in  the  provinces  of  the  Dominion.  The  cir- 
cuits in  that  county  were  cut  off  from  the  American 
connection,  and  during  the  times  of  isolation  condi- 
tions developed  in  the  societies  across  the  border  which 
largely  influenced  the  final  separation  of  the  Canadian 
Methodists  from  their  American  affiliations. 

Two  days  after  the  declaration  of  hostilities  by  the 
national  government  the  New  England  Conference  met 
at  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  the  city  which  had  served 


An  Intercalary  Period.  97 

Jesse  Lee  as  a  base  when  he  made  his  first  advances, 
in  1795,  into  the  Province  of  Maine.  Particularly 
happy  memories  of  the  Methodists  clustered  around 
this  place.  The  local  class  or  congregation  was  thrifty 
and  large-minded,  and  from  the  material  side  as  well 
as  for  other  considerations  it  was  well  regarded  by  the 
preachers  as  a  home.  If  there  were  any  "high  steeple" 
churches  in  New  England  at  that  day,  the  one  at 
Lynn  headed  the  list. 

To  the  pastorate  of  this  Church  Joshua  Soule  was 
appointed  by  the  Conference  to  which  it  had  been  host. 
A  chapel  had  been  begun  by  the  Methodists  in  Lynn 
as  early  as  1791.  It  was  still  unfinished  during  the 
visit  of  Bishop  Asbury  to  that  place  the  following  year, 
but  that  far-sighted  leader  was  impressed  even  then 
with  the  importance  of  the  station  as  a  strategic  base. 
Of  it  he  wrote:  "I  was  agreeably  surprised  to  find  a 
house  raised  for  the  Methodists.  As  a  town  I  think 
Lynn  the  perfection  of  beauty.  It  is  situated  on  a 
plain  under  a  range  of  craggy  hills  and  open  to  the 
sea.  There  is  here  a  promising  society  and  exceedingly 
well-behaved  congregation.  .  .  .  Here  we  shall 
make  a  firm  stand,  and  from  this  central  point,  from 
Lynn,  shall  the  light  of  Methodism  and  of  truth  radiate 
through  the  State." 

The  words  of  Asbury  had  been  proven  prophetic, 
and  the  chapel  built  in  Lynn  under  the  direction  of 
Jesse  Lee  had  housed  more  than  one  session  of  the 
Conference  in  which  bold  and  successful  plans  of  con- 
quest had  been  laid.  The  Church  was  nearly  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  old.  The  congregation  had  steadily 
grown  in  numbers  and  importance,  and  was  now  to  be 
7 


98  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

served  by  the  most  renowned  preacher  in  New  England 
and  one  toward  whom  the  eyes  of  all  Methodism  were 
turning.  A  scheme  was  at  once  put  on  foot  for  build- 
ing a  new  house  of  worship,  one  that  would  in  some 
measure  express  the  stage  of  growth  and  importance 
to  which  the  congregation  had  attained.  This  enter- 
prise was  carried  forward  to  success  by  Soule,  and  on 
the  3d  of  June,  1813,  he  preached  the  dedicatory  ser- 
mon. 

We  have  no  description  of  this  house  and  no  cer- 
tain means  of  determining  whether  or  not  it  might 
have  been  tabooed  by  Bishop  Asbury  for  its  excessive 
fineness.  In  this  very  year,  while  on  his  journey 
through  New  England,  he  wrote :  "O  rare  steeple 
houses,  bells  (organs  by  and  by)  !  These  things  are 
against  me  and  contrary  to  the  simplicity  of  Christ. 
We  have  made  a  stand  in  the  New  England  Confer- 
ence against  steeples  and  pews,  and  shall  possibly  give 
up  the  houses  unless  the  pews  are  taken  out  and  the 
houses  made  sure  to  us  exclusively."  What  if  that 
holy  man  could  walk  through  his  diocese  to-day ! 

It  was  during  this  year,  and  only  two  days  before 
the  dedication  of  the  church  at  Lynn,  that  an  event 
occurred  which  deeply  stirred  the  spirit  of  Soule  and 
served  to  revive  mightily  his  sea  king  instincts.  The 
naval  war  with  Great  Britain  had  reached  its  height, 
and  a  series  of  tragic  events  were  taking  place  along 
the  northeastern  Atlantic  Coast.  Capt.  James  Law- 
rence, who  late  in  the  month  of  May  had  achieved  a 
brilliant  victory  over  the  British  in  the  capture  of  the 
ship  of  war  Hornet,  was  given  command  of  the  fine 
frigate  Chesapeake  and  ordered  to  cruise  in  the  neigh- 


An  Intercalary  Period.  99 

borhood  of  Boston.  On  June  1  he  fell  in  with  the 
British  frigate  Shannon  off  Nahant,  where  occurred 
the  memorable  sea  fight  in  which  the  gallant  Lawrence 
lost  both  his  ship  and  his  life.  From  the  coast  of  High 
Rock  Joshua  Soule  witnessed  the  engagement.  While 
the  dying  Lawrence,  prostrate  on  the  deck  of  his  ves- 
sel, was  crying,  "Don't  give  up  the  ship ;  fight  her  till 
she  sinks/'  the  high-browed  offspring  of  ancient  sea 
kings  was  exclaiming:  "I  would  give  my  right  arm 
rather  than  that  flag  should  come  down."  Now  it 
happened  that  Soule  and  Lawrence  were  of  one  age, 
both  having  been  born  in  the  year  1781.  But  for  the 
providence  which  thirty  years  before  shifted  the  home 
of  the  Soules  from  the  Bristol  coast  of  Maine  to  Sandy 
River  Valley,  the  man  on  the  top  of  High  Rock  might 
have  been  the  dying  master  of  the  shattered  ship  in 
the  offing ! 

After  only  one  year  in  the  pastorate,  Soule  was  again 
called  to  the  presiding  eldership  and  back  to  the  Ken- 
nebec District,  his  old-time  diocese.  Bidding  farewell 
to  his  pleasant  surroundings  at  Lynn,  he  faced  about 
and  returned  to  ride  again  in  month-long  absences 
from  his  family,  but  to  know,  as  before,  a  compensa- 
tion of  joy  in  service  and  sacrifice. 

In  1806,  when  he  was  first  appointed  to  this  district, 
it  contained  nine  circuits.  Now  the  list  showed  eleven, 
and  they  averaged  for  each  an  extent  of  territory  much 
greater  than  that  which  falls  to  the  typical  modern 
district.  In  this  field  he  was  to  spend  three  years,  and 
thus  fill  up  an  intercalary  period,  the  years  which  fell 
between  his  writing  of  the  constitution,  the  point  of  the 
outgoing  of  his  name  to  be  immortal,  and  the  hour  of 


ioo  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

his  call  to  leave  for  good  his  provincial  sphere  and 
enter  upon  the  stages  of  an  ever-widening  service  to 
connectional  Methodism. 

On  December  24,  1814,  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  was 
signed  which  ended  the  war  between  America  and 
Britain,  though  the  memorable  battle  of  New  Orleans, 
because  of  a  lack  of  means  of  rapid  communication, 
was  fought  twenty-one  days  later. 

With  the  year  181 5  began  the  new  era  of  American 
national  greatness.  Methodism,  with  the  other  larger 
moral  forces  of  the  land,  felt  the  impulse  of  the  new 
life  and  prepared  to  enter  the  widening  doors  of  op- 
portunity. 

But  a  shadow  now  fell,  lengthening  and  deepening, 
over  the  house  of  the  people  called  Methodists.  Fran- 
cis Asbury,  the  patriarch  and  leader,  the  tenderly  be- 
loved and  revered  bishop  of  Methodism,  was  dying. 
All  his  sons  saw  this  and  looked  with  tearful  rever- 
ence upon  his  pale  features  and  tottering  form.  In 
July  of  this  year  he  visited  for  the  last  time  the  New 
England  Conference.  He  was  unable  to  preside,  but 
laid  hands  upon  the  heads  of  those  who  were  to  be  sent 
forth  to  teach  the  Word  and  premonish.  Sad  fare- 
wells wrere  taken  of  him  by  those  who  should  see  his 
face  no  more. 

At  this  session  delegates  were  chosen  to  sit  in  the 
General  Conference  to  meet  in  the  city  of  Baltimore 
on  the  1st  of  May  in  the  coming  year.  The  delega- 
tion was  led  by  George  Pickering  and  Joshua  Soule, 
in  the  order  named.  This  was  Soule's  last  year  in 
New  England.  At  the  General  Conference  he  stood 
forth  in  the  great  controversy  which  marked  the  ses- 


An  Intercalary  Period.  101 

sion  as  the  defender  of  what  had  been  made  the  funda- 
mental law  of  the  Church.  By  reason  of  the  effective 
way  in  which  he  bore  himself  and  expounded  his  views 
he  filled  the  whole  eye  of  his  brethren,  and  was  in  their 
thoughts  separated  to  the  destinies  and  service  of  their 
larger  history.  Upon  the  first  stages  of  the  story  of 
that  service  we  are  now  about  to  enter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Counseling  the  Rulers. 

The  question  of  the  presiding  eldership  in  its  rela- 
tions to  the  episcopacy  was  one  with  which  the  name 
of  Joshua  Soule  became  closely  associated  during  a 
period  of  nearly  or  quite  twenty  years — the  period  of 
its  discussion  and  final  settlement.  Therefore  it  seems 
well  to  give  an  entire  section  of  this  work  to  a  con- 
sideration of  it  and  of  the  extent  to  which  the  bishops 
and  other  leaders  of  the  connection  looked  to  Soule 
for  counsel  and  help  in  maintaining  the  constitutional 
view  of  the  office  as  also  that  of  the  office  of  the  epis- 
copacy. 

The  presiding  eldership  is  the  gauge  of  the  itinerancy 
which  is  itself  the  pivot  wheel  of  operative  Methodism. 
It  is  an  integrant  of  the  Wesleyan  episcopacy  and  a 
complementing  function  of  its  administration.  The 
Wesleyan  general  superintendency  and  the  presiding 
eldership  originated  in  the  selfsame  act  of  paternal 
selection,  and  were  commissioned  in  complementing 
offices  of  consecration.  When  Mr.  Wesley  named 
Thomas  Coke  to  be  general  superintendent  of  the 
Church  soon  to  be  organized  in  North  America,  he  also 
named  Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thomas  Vasey  to  be 
elders  assistant  to  him  and  his  colleague,  also  pa- 
ternally selected.  When  Wesley  and  Creighton  con- 
secrated Coke  to  the  general  superintendency,  they  also 
consecrated  Whatcoat  and  Vasey  to  the  presbyterate. 
When  the  General  Conference  of  1784,  acting  on  its 
(102) 


Counseling  the  Rulers.  103 

own  account,  elected  Thomas  Coke  and  Francis  Asbury 
to  the  general  superintendence'  and  thus  ordered  As- 
bury's  consecration  to  that  office,  it  also  elected  twelve 
of  the  preachers — the  whole  body  being  unordained — ■ 
to  the  eldership,  that  they  might  ''visit  the  Quarterly 
Conferences  and  administer  the  ordinances."  The  sig- 
nificance of  the  relations  thus  established  between  the 
general  superintendence'  and  the  presiding  eldership 
was  not  fully  appreciated  in  the  beginning ;  but  history 
has  abundantly  emphasized  the  providence  which  or- 
dered the  interdependence  of  the  two  as  complementing 
functions  of  the  episcopacy.  The  office  of  elder,  even 
from  New  Testament  times,  has  carried  with  it  the 
idea  of  pastoral  authority.  The  general  superintendent 
is  but  an  elder  clothed  with  the  larger  administrative 
powers  of  the  eldership  delegated  from  the  general 
body  of  the  order.  The  presiding  elder  is  a  presbyter 
who  serves  as  an  official  nexus  between  the  general 
superintendency  and  a  given  group  of  itinerants.  This 
was  implied  in  Mr.  Wesley's  appointment  of  What- 
coat  and  Vasey.  It  was  also  implied  in  the  election  of 
the  limited  number  of  twelve  elders  by  the  Christmas 
Conference,  for  it  will  not  be  contended  that  these 
twelve  were  the  only  men  in  the  Conference  worthy  of 
ordination.  Later  ordination  to  both  the  diaconate  anil 
the  presbyterate  came  as  the  result  of  graduation.  But 
at  first  the  General  Conference  dealt  with  the  presid- 
ing elder  and  not  with  the  presbyterate  in  its  normal 
relation. 

The  General  Conference  did  not  create  the  general 
superintendency,  nor  yet  the  presiding  eldership.  Both 
were  accepted  as  expedients  brought  forward  by  those 


104  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

providential  conditions  which  preceded  and  abetted  the 
organization  of  ecclesiastical  Methodism.  But  a  char- 
ter of  these  offices  being  at  length  written  into  the  con- 
stitution of  Methodism,  they  took  on,  and  still  retain, 
the  character  of  fundamentals. 

Bishop  Soule,  the  author  of  the  constitution,  became 
the  champion  and  expounder  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
episcopacy  construed  as  involving  the  unity  of  the  gen- 
eral superintendency  and  the  presiding  eldership.  He 
held  with  conviction  and  clearness  of  statement  the 
view  that  if  the  presiding  eldership — after  the  selection 
of  its  incumbent  had  advisedly  and  constitutionally 
been  made  a  duty  of  the  general  superintendency — 
were  made  elective  by  the  Annual  Conference  the  con- 
stitutional ideal  and  effectiveness  of  the  episcopacy 
would  disappear.  For  though  the  General  Conference 
did  elect  the  first  presiding  elders,  it  was  only  to  legally 
institute  the  system.  Half  the  force  of  the  vote  ap- 
plied to  their  election  to  orders,  which  latter  preroga- 
tive thereafter  passed  to  the  Annual  Conference,  and 
the  power  expressed  in  the  former  was  never  again 
invoked.  Moreover,  the  general  superintendents,  even 
in  that  first  instance,  appointed  the  "president  elders," 
as  they  were  then  called,  to  their  places  as  heads  of 
groups  of  circuits. 

The  presiding  eldership  represents,  on  the  one  side, 
the  body  of  the  itinerancy,  and  on  the  other  the  re- 
sponsible general  superintendency.  For  their  part  the 
itinerants  have  the  election  of  the  presbyter  to  his  func- 
tions, while  for  its  part  the  general  superintendency  has 
the  naming  of  the  officer  who  is  to  bring  that  part  of 
the  itinerancy  which  he  represents  into  the  episcopal 


Counseling  the  Rulers.  105 

counsels.  The  general  superintendency  does  not  in 
itself  complete  the  ideal  of  the  episcopacy,  but  that 
ideal  is  completed  in  conjunction  with  the  constitu- 
tionally created  presiding  eldership. 

No  question  in  Methodism  has  had  a  history  of  more 
constant  controversy  than  has  that  of  the  presiding 
eldership.  In  the  beginning  of  Methodism  Mr.  Wesley 
appointed  his  preachers  and  helpers  to  labor  at  those 
times  and  in  those  places  which  his  Christian  judgment 
determined  to  be  best  and  most  to  the  advantage  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  This  authority  he  gave  to  his  gen- 
eral assistants  in  America,  to  Boardman,  to  Rankin, 
and  to  Asbury.  The  same  authority  passed  to  the  gen- 
eral superintendents,  or  bishops,  ordained  by  him  and 
commissioned  under  his  letters.  The  Christmas  Con- 
ference confirmed  this  authority  and  fixed  it  in  a 
formal  question  and  answer  which  were  printed  in  the 
first  Discipline  of  the  Church  as  follows — viz. :  "Ques- 
tion, What  is  the  duty  of  a  bishop  ?  Answer :  To  pre- 
side as  moderator  in  our  Conferences,  to  fix  the  ap- 
pointments of  the  preachers  for  the  several  circuits, 
etc."  That  under  the  rule  this  authority  extended  to 
the  appointment  of  presiding  elders  there  was  never 
any  question.  Nor  was  there  any  issue  made  on  the 
general  policy  of  putting  the  power  of  appointment  in 
the  hands  of  the  episcopacy  until  the  meeting  of  the 
second  General  Conference,  in  1792.  At  that  sitting 
James  O'Kelly  introduced  the  following  resolution — 
to  wit : 

Resolved,  That  after  the  bishop  appoints  the  preachers  at 
the  Conference  to  their  several  circuits,  if  any  one  think  him- 
self injured  by  the  appointment,  he  shall  have  liberty  to  ap- 


io6  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

peal  to  the  Conference  and  state  his  objections;  and  if  the 
Conference  approve  of  his  objections,  the  bishop  shall  appoint 
him  to  another  circuit. 

After  a  debate  of  three  days,  and  one  exhaustive  of 
every  content  of  the  measure,  it  was  lost  by  a  decisive 
majority.  The  defeat  of  his  scheme  so  dissatisfied 
O 'Kelly  that  he  immediately  withdrew  from  the  Con- 
ference, and  soon  afterwards  set  up  the  Church  of  the 
"O'Kellyites,"  or  Republican  Methodists. 

A  decisive  vote  of  confidence  being  thus  early  given 
the  episcopacy,  the  ghost  of  autocracy  remained  laid 
for  nearly  a  decade.  Strangely  enough,  the  next  ap- 
pearance of  it  was  with  Dr.  Coke  as  sponsor.  At 
the  General  Conference  of  1800,  when  it  became  clear 
that  a  third  bishop  would  be  elected,  possessing  him- 
self a  strong  bias  for  the  new  Wesleyan  method  of  ap- 
pointment, Bishop  Coke  brought  in  the  following 
recommendation — viz. :  "The  new  bishop,  whenever  he 
presides  in  an  Annual  Conference  in  the  absence  of 
Bishop  Asbury,  shall  bring  the  stations  of  the  preachers 
into  the  Conference  and  read  them  that  he  may  hear 
what  the  Conference  has  to  say  upon  each  station." 

After  a  brief  consultation,  this  motion  was  with- 
drawn by  the  mover.  Shortly  after  the  withdrawal  of 
the  recommendation  another  was  submitted  to  the  ef- 
fect that  the  Conference  appoint  a  committee  of  three 
or  four  to  assist  the  new  bishop  "in  stationing  the 
preachers."  In  this  suggestion  the  "bishop's  cabinet" 
was  distinctly  prophesied;  but  being  haled  from  the 
wrong  angle,  it  also  was  rejected.  The  early  history 
of  the  presiding  eldership  describes  a  case  of  arrested 
development.     It  came  into  shape  slowly,  but  a  law  of 


Counseling  the  Rulers.  107 

logic  and  providence  prevented  it  from  getting  into  in- 
effective relations  with  the  general  superintendency, 
whose  nascence  was  its  own. 

The  next  stage  of  this  controversy  we  have  already 
described  in  the  story  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitu- 
tion in  1808.  It  will  be  recalled  that  the  presiding  elder 
question  emerged  at  the  moment  that  instrument  was 
being  put  before  the  General  Conference  for  its  con- 
sideration and  indorsement.  The  vote  was  adverse, 
but  the  verdict  against  an  elective  presiding  eldership 
did  not  prevent  the  advocates  of  the  measure  from 
bringing  it  forward  again  in  1812.  The  majority  regis- 
tered against  it  at  this  latter  sitting  was  so  slender  as 
to  raise  the  belief  that  it  would  carry  in  the  General 
Conference  of  1816.  The  contest  was  therefore  re- 
newed at  that  sitting  with  great  determination,  and 
this  brings  us  up  to  the  date  at  which  the  course  of 
this  biography  has  arrived. 

The  second  delegated  General  Conference  convened 
in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  May  11,  1816.  A  shadow  of 
melancholy  rested  on  the  opening  scenes  because  of  the 
death  of  Bishop  Asbury,  which  event  had  occurred  but 
one  month  before.  After  the  lapse  of  a  week,  how- 
ever, the  contest  on  "the  main  question"  was  opened. 
On  Tuesday,  May  7,  Samuel  Merwin,  of  the  New  York 
Conference,  moved  that  in  answer  to  the  question, 
"How  shall  the  presiding  elders  be  chosen  and  ap- 
pointed?" the  Discipline  should  read:  "At  an  early 
period  in  each  Annual  Conference  the  bishop  shall 
nominate  a  person  for  each  district  that  is  to  be  sup- 
plied, and  the  Conference  shall  without  debate  pro- 
ceed in  the  choice,  the  person  nominated  being  absent ; 


io8  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

and  if  the  person  nominated  be  not  chosen  according 
to  nomination,  the  bishop  shall  nominate  two  others, 
one  of  whom  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Conference  to 
choose."  And  in  answer  to  the  question,  "By  whom 
shall  the  preachers  be  appointed  to  their  stations?" 
Merwin  moved  that  the  answer  should  read:  "By  the 
bishop  with  the  advice  and  counsel  of  the  presiding 
elders."  The  Conference  after  sitting  at  intervals  dur- 
ing three  days  as  a  committee  of  the  whole  on  this 
matter  had  reached  no  conclusion  when  Nathan  Bangs 
proposed  an  amendment,  which  was  accepted  by  Mer- 
win. The  Bangs  amendment  was  as  follows :  "The 
bishop  at  an  early  period  of  the  Annual  Conference 
shall  nominate  an  elder  for  each  district,  and  the  Con- 
ference shall  without  debate  either  confirm  or  reject 
such  nomination.  If  the  person  or  persons  so  nomi- 
nated be  not  elected  by  the  Conference,  the  bishop 
shall  nominate  two  others  for  each  vacant  district,  one 
of  whom  shall  be  chosen.  And  the  presiding  elder 
so  elected  and  appointed  shall  remain  in  office  four 
years,  unless  dismissed  by  the  mutual  consent  of  the 
bishop  and  Conference;  but  no  presiding  elder  shall 
be  removed  from  office  during  the  term  of  four  years 
unless  the  reasons  for  such  removal  be  stated  to  him 
in  the  presence  of  the  Conference,  which  shall  decide 
without  debate  on  his  case." 

After  a  further  spirited  discussion,  the  amendment 
was  put  to  the  house  and  lost,  as  was  also  the  main 
question.  But  the  hope  was  still  strong  that  at  a  fu- 
ture day  (and,  as  it  proved,  at  the  next  General  Con- 
ference) the  issue  could  be  successfully  revived.  To 
provide  for  the  realization  of  this  hope  the  friends  of 


Counseling  the  Rulers.  109 

the  defeated  measure  proposed  at  a  later  stage  of  the 
session  this  unusual  pronouncement — namely:  "Re- 
solved that  the  motion  relative  to  the  election  and 
appointment  of  presiding  elders  is  not  contrary  to  the 
constitution  of  our  Church."  The  Conference  disal- 
lowed the  judgment ;  but  as  the  result  did  not  amount 
to  either  a  constitutional  amendment  or  a  supreme 
court  decision,  the  question  remained  an  open  one. 

Concerning  the  determinative  influences  in  the  de- 
bates and  the  leadership  of  this  question,  Bishop  Mc- 
Tyeire,  who  knew  this  history  both  from  the  record 
and  from  a  close  and  confidential  intimacy  with  Bish- 
op Soule,  has  put  American  Methodism  in  posses- 
sion of  information  that  otherwise  might  have  been 
lost.  In  his  address  delivered  at  the  funeral  of  Bish- 
op Soule  he  says:  "Mr.  Soule's  theory  was  that  the 
presiding  elders  were  in  their  executive  character  the 
officers  and  vicegerents  of  the  bishop,  and  the  bishop 
must  have  the  untrammeled  selection  of  his  staff.  As 
preachers  our  itinerant  system  could  no  more  al- 
low the  Annual  Conference  to  give  the  presiding  eld- 
ers their  appointed  fields  of  labor  than  to  the  cir- 
cuit preachers  theirs.  Under  such  administration  he 
held  that  the  episcopacy  and  the  itinerancy  would  both 
break  down.  Good  and  great  men  were  on  the  other 
side — Hedding  and  Waugh  (afterwards  bishops)  and 
others.  Bishop  Roberts  was  understood  to  favor  their 
views." 

Out  of  the  fullness  of  his  knowledge  gained  through 
the  superior  opportunity  furnished  by  his  relation  to 
the  leader  and  chief  actor  in  this  history,  Bishop 
McTyeire  adds:   "In   1816  Mr.   Soule  took  a  prom- 


no  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

inent  part  in  the  discussion.  The  friends  of  this  spe- 
cious measure  happily  did  not  succeed,  and  to  him  is 
attributed  its  defeat.  Bishop  McKendree  looked  to 
him,  and  now  leaned  on  him  to  uphold  his  constitution- 
al, conservative  policy." 

The  greatness  and  value  of  Mr.  Soule's  service  to 
the  Church  and  its  leaders  in  this  matter  are  by  no 
means  described  in  the  story  of  his  connection  with  the 
debates  and  actions  of  the  General  Conference  of  1816. 
From  this  time  on,  until  after  his  second  election  to  the 
episcopacy,  he  stood  in  the  front  of  the  contest  for  the 
vindication  of  the  constitution.  Indeed,  the  lists  were 
constantly  opening  to  him  well  nigh  to  the  close  of  his 
heroic  and  illustrious  life ;  but  we  shall  trace  each  stage 
in  its  chronological  order. 

In  the  strenuous  session  of  1816  Soule  was  made 
chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Safety.  The  duty  of 
this  committee,  which  consisted  of  three  members,  was 
to  take  into  consideration  that  part  of  Bishop  McKen- 
dree's  address  which  referred  to  the  state  of  the 
Church,  the  doctrinal  soundness  of  the  preaching  being 
done  in  the  connection,  and  the  administration  of 
Church  discipline.  The  text  of  the  report  of  this  com- 
mittee may  be  found  printed  in  many  American  Meth- 
odist histories,  copied  from  the  General  Conference 
Journal.  But  I  have  in  my  possession  at  this  writing 
what  I  take  to  be  one  of  the  two  or  three  original  copies 
of  that  report  made  at  the  time  of  the  committee's 
sitting  or  very  soon  thereafter.  It  is  dated  1816,  and 
is  in  Bishop  Soule's  handwriting  and  signed  by  his 
own  hand  as  chairman.  The  manuscript  contains 
twenty-four  pages,  and,  in  addition  to  the  report  of  the 


Counseling  the  Rulers,  ill 

Committee  of  Safety,  contains  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Episcopacy,  also  in  Sonde's  handwriting. 
The  same  is  true  of  a  copy  of  the  address  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  to  the  London  Missionary  Society 
touching  the  differences  which  had  arisen  between  the 
American  and  English  Conferences  in  regard  to  the 
stations  in  Canada.  Three  forms  for  title  deeds  or 
indentures  to  secure  the  hold  of  Church  property  also 
appear  in  the  manuscript.  One  of  these  is  nearly  iden- 
tical with  the  form  appearing  in  the  Discipline  securing 
titles  to  "The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America ;"  while  one  of  the  others  is 
a  deed  drawn  for  special  use  in  the  State  of  Maryland, 
where,  as  it  would  seem,  there  were  peculiarities  of 
statute ;  while  the  third  was  drawn  as  a  guide  to  those 
who  sought  to  make  bequests  of  property  for  Church 
uses.  The  indentures  are  each  in  a  different  hand,  in 
each  case  evidently  by  a  professional  copyist  who  neatly 
and  carefully  transcribed  from  an  original. 

The  interest  in  this  paper,  altogether  aside  from  its 
antiquity,  is  the  light  which  it  throws  on  the  ministry 
and  catholic  thoughtedness  of  the  provincial  presiding 
elder.  An  official  visitor  in  a  city  in  which  he  was 
nearly  a  stranger,  he  found  time  to  consult  attorneys 
and  recorders  and  make  or  have  made  copies  of  safe 
and  convenient  property  deeds,  and  not  only  to  neatly 
duplicate  the  report  of  his  own  committee  but  those  of 
others  also.  To  say  what  share  he  had,  if  any,  in  shap- 
ing these  other  reports  could  of  course  be  only  con- 
jecture. The  suggestion  is  not  ventured  that  his  advice 
was  even  sought  by  the  heads  of  other  committees ;  but 


112  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

from  what  we  know  of  the  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  all  it  is  not  the  least  unlikely  that  he  was  in 
their  confidence  while  they  worked;  and  this  manu- 
script, could  it  speak  other  words  than  those  written 
upon  it,  might  tell  us  an  interesting  story.  How  it, 
with  a  few  other  precious  fragments,  escaped  the  gen- 
eral destruction  of  the  Bishop's  papers  cannot  now  be 
explained.  It  has  come  down  in  a  rare  and  priceless 
collection  of  autograph  letters  and  original  official 
writings  dating  back  to  Asbury.  The  history  of  the 
preservation  and  uses  of  these  papers  is  itself  an  in- 
teresting one.  The  original  nucleus  passed  from  As- 
bury to  McKendree  probably  a  few  months  before  the 
death  of  the  former,  in  1816.  The  depository  of  this 
nucleus  during  the  remaining  years  of  McKendree's 
life  seems  to  have  been  the  home  of  his  brother,  Dr. 
James  McKendree,  in  Sumner  County,  Tennessee.  Aft- 
er the  death  of  Bishop  McKendree,  in  1835, tne  original 
papers,  with  many  additions,  passed  to  the  hands  of 
Bishop  Soule,  who  was  to  McKendree  another  self,  as 
McKendree  had  been  to  Asbury.  Bishop  Soule,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  improvident  of  records,  especially  such 
as  bore  on  his  own  life  and  work,  yet  the  papers  in- 
herited from  his  senior  in  office  were  carefully  pre- 
served. To  these  papers  Bishop  Paine  had  access  while 
writing  the  "Life  of  McKendree."  After  the  death  of 
Bishop  Soule,  the  accumulation  passed  to  Bishop  Mc- 
Tyeire,  who  drew  heavily  upon  it  in  writing  his  "His- 
tory of  Methodism."  The  various  records  included 
in  it  were  also  consulted  by  Dr.  A.  H.  Redford  in 
writing  his  "Organization  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 


Counseling  the  Rulers.  113 

Church,  South."  From  Bishop  McTyeire  to  Bishop 
Tigert  this  all  but  "Nibelungen  hoard"  descended,  and 
information  was  extracted  from  it  by  the  latter  in  the 
preparation  of  his  ''Constitutional  History  of  Metho- 
dism." I  have  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  this  en- 
tire collection  in  my  possession  while  writing  the  mem- 
oirs of  Bishops  Asbury  and  Soule. 
8 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  Manifold  Stewardship. 

The  minute  in  the  Journal  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1816  devoted  to  reporting  the  electoral  vote 
has  a  familiar  and  modern  look.  It  informs  us  that 
Enoch  George  and  Robert  Richford  Roberts  were 
elected  Bishops  and  that  Joshua  Soule  was  elected 
Book  Steward  (publishing  agent  and  editor  of  the 
Methodist  Magazine),  with  Thomas  Mason  as  assistant. 
From  this  time  forward  the  connectional  elections  be- 
come a  center  of  interest  and  forelooking  in  the  Gen- 
eral Conference.  How  much  the  purely  electoral  senti- 
ment has  influenced  the  fortunes  of  the  Wesleyan  move- 
ment in  America  it  would  of  course  be  impossible  to 
say ;  but  that  it  has  been  a  constant  attrition  few,  if  any, 
will  undertake  to  deny.  It  is  safe,  however,  to  say 
that  no  other  ecclesiastical  system  has  developed  at  this 
point  less  friction  as  well  as  less  of  the  spirit  of  selfish- 
ness. It  is  known  that  Soule  did  not  desire  the  port- 
folio to  which  he  was  elected.  Describing  it  as  a  semi- 
secular  position,  he  had  contended  for  the  election  of 
a  layman.  In  the  General  Conference  of  1808  he  had 
moved  to  modify  the  section  in  the  Discipline  on  'The 
Book  Concern,"  and  had  advocated  the  policy  of  letting 
the  whole  work  of  the  Church's  publications  out  on 
contract,  a  plan  which  has  received  much  consideration 
in  modern  Methodist  assemblies. 

At  that  date  the  publishing  agency  was  verily  no 
sinecure,  nor  a  post  to  be  coveted  either  for  its  distinc- 

(114) 


A  Manifold  Stewardship.  115 

tion  or  its  emoluments.  The  prestige  of  the  office  is 
a  modern  accretion.  The  incumbency  of  it  then  meant 
drudgery,  harassing  cares  in  carrying  a  budget  behind 
which  was  no  exchequer,  and  feeling  one's  way  in  the 
dark  as  to  a  policy.  But  being  drafted  by  the  suffrages 
of  his  brethren,  Soule  addressed  himself  to  his  difficult 
task  with  what  success  we  shall  see  when  our  story 
reaches  that  particular  stage  in  its  telling. 

The  history  of  the  publishing  enterprises  of  Amer- 
ican Methodism  reads  like  a  romance.  The  Methodist 
press  has  ever  been  a  source  of  power  next  to  the  Meth- 
odist pulpit.  It  was  so  in  England,  but  the  fact  has 
had  emphasis  in  America.  A  Wesleyan  minister  visit- 
ing the  American  connections  near  the  middle  of  the 
last  century  set  forth  his  observations  concerning  the 
American  Methodist  press  in  these  words :  "Its  radia- 
tions of  light  reach  through  thousands  of  miles  to  the 
remotest  extremities  of  the  Union ;  its  voice  of  exhorta- 
tion, of  admonition,  of  reproof,  of  warning  is  heard  in 
the  wilderness,  the  village,  the  city  of  every  part  of  the 
continent;  its  lifelike  electrical  fire  is  fusing  itself  into 
the  masses  of  the  population."  And  yet  these  vast  con- 
cerns, carried  on  through  the  many  publishing  houses 
of  the  different  branches  of  Methodism,  had  their 
origin  in  simple  and  economical  devices. 

Robert  Williams,  a  local  Wesleyan  preacher,  who 
came  to  America  in  1769,  only  three  years  after 
Embury  opened  services  in  the  old  sail  loft  in  New 
York,  published  the  first  books  credited  to  the  Metho- 
dists in  the  New  World.  The  first  American  Confer- 
ence, held  in  Philadelphia  in  1773,  ordered  that  no 
books  should  be  published  in  the  name  of  the  Metho- 


n6  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

dists  without  official  consent.  From  that  date  to  1789 
not  a  few  imprints,  including  editions  of  the  Discipline, 
minutes,  hymnals,  and  other  official  books,  were  or- 
dered by  the  Conference.  It  was,  however,  not  until 
the  latter  year  that  the  yearly  Conference  determined 
to  establish  an  official  printing  interest.  This  interest 
was  known  as  "The  Book  Concern,"  a  title  which  did 
not  appear  in  the  Conference  minutes  until  the  year 
1792.  To  John  Dickins,  a  native  of  England,  the  most 
literary  man  amongst  the  early  preachers  and  other- 
wise capable,  the  work  was  committed.  He  was  the 
stationed  preacher  in  Philadelphia,  a  work  heavy 
enough  for  one  man.  But  he  accepted  the  additional 
•  duties  of  Book  Steward,  and,  willing  soul  that  he  was, 
served  in  that  post  also  and  without  additional  com- 
pensation. The  "Book  Rooms"  were  a  chamber  in  his 
parsonage,  which  was  itself  "a  hired  house."  He 
loaned  the  institution  $600  of  his  private  means,  and 
that  was  the  capital  upon  which  it  began  its  so  great 
and  destiny-making  task.  For  ten  years  Dickins  de- 
voted himself  to  his  duties  and  saw  "one  hundred  and 
fourteen  thousand  volumes  of  books"  go  out  from  the 
presses  which  he  hired  to  do  his  work.  During  his 
incumbency  the  Book  Concern  owned  no  presses  and 
had  no  offices  or  storehouse,  and  he,  with  little  as- 
sistance, did  all  the  work  of  every  character  which  the 
post  demanded.  A  scourge  of  yellow  fever  visited 
Philadelphia  in  the  late  summer  and  autumn  of  1799, 
and  the  faithful  Dickins  was  claimed  as  one  of  its 
victims.  Ezekiel  Cooper  succeeded  and  continued  in 
office  until  1808.  The  General  Conference  of  1804 
removed  the  offices  from  Philadelphia  to  New  York, 


A  Manifold  Stewardship.  117 

where  one  of  the  chief  publishing  plants  of  Methodism 
has  since  existed.  The  business  greatly  expanded 
under  the  agency  of  Cooper;  and  when  he  retired,  in 
1808,  the  capital  invested  was  nearly  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  Cooper  was  succeeded  by  John  Wilson,  who 
for  the  four  previous  years  had  been  his  assistant. 
Wilson,  who  had  fine  gifts  and  possessed  a  considerable 
degree  of  culture,  died  in  1810,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Daniel  Hitt,  a  close  friend  and  associate  of  Bishop  As- 
bury's.  He  with  Thomas  Ware  continued  the  work 
up  to  the  General  Conference  of  1816,  when,  as  already 
noted,  Joshua  Soule  was  called  to  take  up  the  enter- 
prise, which,  though  it  had  enjoyed  no  little  prosperity, 
was  now  arrived  at  a  stage  where  great  skill  and  heroic 
faith  must  be  used  to  bring  it  through  depressing  con- 
ditions. The  Concern  needed  funds,  its  stock  was  old 
and  all  but  valueless,  a  money  crisis  was  on  in  the  com- 
mercial world,  and  the  paper  of  the  Book  Steward 
could  not  be  discounted  in  New  York.  Again  Soule 
showed  himself  the  man  of  providence.  He  placed  a 
large  loan  in  a  bank  in  Baltimore,  two  personal  friends 
indorsing  for  him,  and,  opening  up  new  books,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  rejuvenate  the  Concern.  The  era  of  modern 
Methodist  printing  and  publishing  begins  with  his  ad- 
ministration. He  carried  the  work  up  to  1820,  and 
passed  to  the  hands  of  Nathan  Bangs  the  well-realized 
beginnings  of  that  arm  of  Methodist  service  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  one  of  its  chief  means  of  propaga- 
tion during  the  nineteenth  century. 

Methodism  early  felt  the  need  of  a  periodical  publi- 
cation. The  uses  of  the  modern  Church  newspaper 
were  of  course  unknown  in  the  early  decades  of  the 


i'i8  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

nineteenth  century,  but  the  demand  for  a  doctrinal 
forum  was  great.  One  of  the  earliest  tasks  of  John 
Dickins  was  to  reissue  the  Arminian  Methodist  Mag- 
azine, printed  under  the  direction  of  the  Wesleyan 
Conference  in  England.  Two  volumes — 1789  and 
1790 — were  issued  when  the  enterprise  failed  for  lack 
of  support.  Seven  years  later  the  Methodist  Maga- 
zine, itself  in  part  a  reprint,  was  undertaken,  but 
after  the  issuance  of  two  volumes — 1797  and  1798 — it 
also  was  discontinued.  The  General  Conference  of 
1812  ordered  the  publication  of  the  suspended  period- 
ical to  be  resumed,  but  the  finances  of  the  Concern  at 
that  time  did  not  admit  of  the  necessary  outlay,  a  con- 
dition which  continued  through  the  quadrennium.  The 
order  was  therefore  renewed  in  1816,  but  it  was  Jan- 
uary, 18 1 8,  before  the  initial  number  appeared.  With 
the  first  issue  of  this  magazine  the  history  of  our  pe- 
riodical literature  properly  begins. 

The  Methodist  Magazine  contained  forty  octavo 
pages,  and  such  was  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the 
sample  edition  was  received  that  within  a  brief  time 
the  circulation  had  reached  ten  thousand  copies.  In 
beginning  this  enterprise  Soule  felt  the  embarrass- 
ment natural  to  one  entering  upon  a  new  and  difficult 
role.  From  the  view-point  of  the  present,  it  is  all  but 
impossible  to  understand  the  situation  which  confronted 
the  editor.  There  were  but  few  precedents  for  such  a 
publication,  and  the  ideals  were  uncertain  and  baffling. 
Dr.  Bangs,  the  historian,  says  of  this :  "As  the  issuing 
of  this  work  was  entering  on  an  untrodden  path  by 
those  who  were  to  guide  its  course  and  watch  over 
its  destinies,  it  is  no  wonder  that  its  editor,  Rev.  Josh- 


A  Manifold  Stewardship.  119 

ua  Soule,  felt  some  anxiety  for  its  success  and  a  trem- 
bling sense  of  the  responsibility  he  was  about  to  as- 
sume." In  his  salutatory,  or  introduction,  Soule  said : 
"In  publishing  this  periodical  miscellany  the  editors 
feel  all  those  sensibilities  which  arise  from  a  convic- 
tion that  its  merits  are  to  be  tested  under  the  inspection 
of  an  enlightened  community.  .  .  .  The  great  de- 
sign of  this  publication  is  to  circulate  religious  knowl- 
edge, a  design  which  embraces  the  highest  interests  of 
rational  existence." 

The  drudgery  of  the  publishing  agency  consumed 
his  hours  of  daylight,  so  that  he  was  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  giving  what  time  he  could  after  the  hour 
of  9  p.m.  to  editorial  work,  particularly  that  of  pre- 
paring and  selecting  matter  for  the  pages  of  the  maga- 
zine. It  was  this  necessity  of  turning  the  hours  of 
night  to  redactorial  account  that  led  him  to  describe 
the  contents  of  his  journal  as  "the  work  of  darkness." 
The  literature  embalmed  in  the  dim  pages  of  the  few 
sets  of  the  magazine  now  extant  might  not  stand  under 
the  severest  tests  of  criticism,  but  it  voiced  the  serious 
and  dignified  thought,  as  also  the  evangelical  spirit,  of 
a  people  to  whom  was  given  a  major  amount  of  the 
responsibility  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  their  times. 
But  whatever  the  present  might  be  disposed  to  say  in 
praise  or  disparagement,  it  is  of  record  that  "contempo- 
rary authority  spake  in  high  terms  of  the  editorial  man- 
agement of  the  magazine  in  its  first  years"  (the  years 
of  Senile's  editorship). 

The  first  volume  of  the  original  print  of  the  maga- 
zine with  Editor  Soule's  introduction  is  before  me.  The 
general  mechanical  appearance  is  pleasing,  and  credit- 


120  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

able  to  the  printer,  the  arrangement  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  matter  suggesting  painstaking  care  and 
dignity  of  purpose  in  the  editor.  As  would  be  natu- 
rally expected,  the  discussions  are  for  the  most  part 
theologically  and  philosophically  discursive.  Snatches 
of  biography  and  poetry  enliven  the  pages.  A  good 
steel  engraving  of  Bishop  Asbury  serves  as  frontis- 
piece. 

The  American  Bible  Society,  whose  history  and  ex- 
ploits in  circulating  the  Holy  Scriptures  ''without 
note  or  comment"  have  filled  a  century  with  glory, 
was  organized  in  May,  1816.  It  was  the  chance  and 
distinction  of  a  lifetime  to  have  had  part  in  the  work 
of  setting  that  enterprise  on  its  way.  This  chance  and 
distinction  fell  to  Joshua  Soule,  who,  as  the  Publish- 
ing Agent  of  Methodism,  became  its  representative  in 
counseling  the  Society  and  assisting  in  the  planning 
of  its  affairs.  He  saw  it  spring  and  grow  and  be- 
come a  fruitful  ministry  in  the  whole  earth.  To  his 
very  latest  years  he  was  constantly  cheered  by  the 
memory  of  that  service  which  he,  with  others,  had 
been  permitted  to  render  to  his  own  century  and,  as 
he  rightly  esteemed  it,  to  centuries  beyond  his  own. 
Bishop  McTyeire,  who  knew  his  thoughts  in  this  as 
in  other  matters,  says:  "It  was  ever  a  satisfaction  to 
him  to  reflect  that  his  hand  had  been  on  the  corner 
stone  of  that  great  Christian  institution." 

Only  less  important  and  noteworthy,  because  the 
application  of  the  benefits  of  the  organization  have 
been  only  less  general,  was  the  part  which  he  took  in 
the  organization  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.     The  year  1819  is  dis- 


A  Manifold  Stezvardship.  121 

tinguished  in  Methodist  annals  as  the  year  of  the 
origination  of  this  society.  From  the  beginning  of 
Methodism  in  England  its  spirit  had  been  missionary, 
and  the  American  societies  had  been  very  largely  the 
product  of  that  spirit.  The  plans  and  policies  of  As- 
bury  were  distinctly  missionary,  and  the  thought,  if 
not  the  details,  of  a  compact  and  well-financed  scheme 
for  foreign  evangelism  was  in  the  mind  of  that  re- 
sourceful man  for  a  decade  or  more  before  his  death. 
It  was  over  his  freshly-made  grave  that  his  long-cher- 
ished thought  began  to  take  shape  and  grow  into  ef- 
fective plans.  Dr.  Bangs,  in  his  "History  of  Metho- 
dism," says:  "This  subject  became  the  topic  of  conver- 
sation among  several  individuals  in  the  city  of  New 
York  in  the  beginning  of  this  year  (1819),  some  for 
and  some  against  the  measure-  At  length,  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  preachers  stationed  in  New  York  and  the 
Book  Agents,  Rev.  Laban  Clark  presented  a  resolu- 
tion in  favor  of  forming  a  Bible  and  Missionary  So- 
ciety of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  At  this 
time  the  following  preachers  were  present — namely, 
Freeborn  Garrettson,  Joshua  Soule,  Samuel  Merwin, 
Nathan  Bangs,  Laban  Clark,  Thomas  Mason,  Seth 
Crowell,  Samuel  Howe,  and  Thomas  Thorp.  After 
a  free  interchange  of  thoughts  on  the  subject,  the  res- 
olution was  adopted,  and  Freeborn  Garrettson,  Laban 
Clark,  and  Nathan  Bangs  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  prepare  a  constitution  to  be  submitted  at  a  subse- 
quent meeting  of  the  above-mentioned  preachers. 
This  committee  on  coining  together  agreed  that  each 
member  should  draft  a  constitution,  and  at  a  subse- 
quent meeting  the  one  should  be  adopted  which  might 


122  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

appear  the  most  suitable.  On  comparing  these  drafts, 
the  one  prepared  by  the  present  writer  (Nathan 
Bangs)  was  preferred,  and  at  a  full  meeting  of  the 
preachers  before  mentioned,  after  undergoing  some 
verbal  alterations,  was  unanimously  concurred  in  and 
ordered  to  be  submitted  to  a  public  meeting  of  the 
members  and  friends  of  the  Church  who  might  choose 
to  attend  the  call  in  the  Forsyth  Street  Church  on  the 
evening  of  April  5,  1819.  This  was  accordingly  done, 
when  Nathan  Bangs  was  called  to  the  chair.  Ad- 
dresses were  delivered  by  the  Chair,  by  Freeborn  Gar- 
rettson,  Joshua  Soule,  and  some  others,  when,  on  mo- 
tion of  Joshua  Soule,  seconded  by  Freeborn  Garrett- 
son,  the  constitution  which  had  been  prepared  was 
adopted." 

The  organization  of  the  society  was  then  com- 
pleted by  the  election  of  a  complement  of  administra- 
tive officers,  Bishop  William  McKendree  being  named 
President  and  Rev.  Joshua  Soule  Treasurer. 

From  this  time  forward  Soule  gave  close  and  con- 
stant attention,  as  he  could  command  time  from  his 
other  arduous  duties,  to  the  financial  well-being  of 
the  missionary  society,  and  was  largely  instrumental 
in  bringing  it  forward  for  recognition  in  the  General 
Conference  of  1820. 

The  request  made  of  the  general  body  to  adopt  the 
purely  local  missionary  society  organized  in  New 
York  City  was  cordially  entertained  and  granted, 
though  a  similar  request  came  from  a  society  of  the 
same  character  organized  within  the  bounds  of  the 
Philadelphia  Conference.  But  in  adopting  the  consti- 
tution  of   the   New   York   organization   a   significant 


A  Manifold  Stewardship.  123 

emendation  of  the  name  of  the  society  was  ordered  to 
be  made.  The  constitution  of  the  society  organized  in 
18 19  carried  in  its  first  article  this  form  of  statement 
— namely,  "This  association  shall  be  denominated  the 
Missionary  and  Bible  Society  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  America."  Under  this  name  a  gen- 
eral address  was  sent  out  to  the  people  of  Methodism 
and  a  special  circular  was  addressed  to  the  several 
Annual  Conferences.  But  when  the  constitution  came 
before  the  General  Conference  that  body,  on  the  rec- 
ommendation of  the  society  itself,  struck  out  the  word 
"Bible,"  because  "The  American  Bible  Society,"  which 
was  now  in  successful  operation,  was  fully  adequate 
to  the  task  of  supplying  the  community  with  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures.  The  words  "in  America"  were  also 
stricken  out  by  order  of  the  Conference,  without  re- 
quest from  the  society,  as  it  appears,  leaving  the  title 
to  read  simply  "The  Missionary  Society  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church."  Dr.  Bangs  says  that  the 
reason  for  striking  out  the  words  "in  America"  was 
that  they  were  "unnecessary  to  designate  the  character 
of  the  society,  there  being  no  other  missionary  society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  existence." 

Were  there  no  other  history  touching  the  words 
"in  America"  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  we  could  ac- 
cept the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Bangs  as  final ;  but  there 
are  other  and  significant  records  to  which  we  shall 
now  call  attention.  To  be  both  frank  and  explicit,  it 
is  my  purpose  to  show  that  the  original  name  of  the 
Church,  "The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Amer- 
ica," which  was  in  constant  official  and  current  use 
from  1784  to  1796  and  later,  was  by  sundry  official 


124  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

acts  of  the  General  Conference  changed  to  "Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America" 
as  a  legal  form,  the  name  "Methodist  Episcopal 
Church"  being  used  as  a  popular  or  current  title.  At 
first  glance  this  discussion  might  appear  to  have  been 
lugged  by  the  ears  into  this  biography,  but  into  no 
work  other  than  an  open  history  of  American  Metho- 
dism could  it  be  more  properly  brought  than  into  a 
study  of  the  life  of  Joshua  Soule,  the  man  who  fought 
the  cause  of  the  constitution  through  many  changes 
and  vicissitudes,  and  who,  by  the  token  herein  cited, 
had  a  predilection  for  the  original  name  of  the  Church. 
But  to  our  engagement. 

When  the  Church  was  organized  in  1784,  the  title 
received  by  common  consent  was  "Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  in  America."  This  common  consent  re- 
ceived no  doubt  a  confirmation  in  competent  Confer- 
ence action,  though  the  official  Journal  of  the  General 
Conference  is  no  longer  extant  in  any  form.  The  data 
used  by  historians  are  the  General  Minutes  of  1785 
(republished  in  1795)  and  copies  of  the  Discipline  as 
compiled  at  the  Christmas  Conference.  The  pream- 
ble printed  in  the  Minutes  of  1785,  as  reprinted  in 
1795,  does  not  appear  in  the  original  pamphlet  min- 
utes. It  was  added  by  some  later  editor,  and  is  there- 
fore of  no  historical  value  in  determining  this  point. 
In  the  original  of  the  Minutes  of  1785  Mr.  Asbury  in- 
troduced a  brief  note  in  which  he  says  only  that  "it 
was  agreed  to  form  ourselves  into  an  Episcopal 
Church,  and  to  have  superintendents,  elders,  and  dea- 
cons." The  state  of  the  record  as  above  described 
would  leave  us  in  much  doubt,  but  concurrent  docu- 


A  Manifold  Stewardship.  125 

ments  carrying  a  parity  of  authority  with  the  missing 
Journal  make  the  point  clear.  In  the  episcopal  let- 
ters issued  by  Bishop  Coke  to  Francis  Asbury,  the 
original  of  which  has  been  often  authenticated,  Dr. 
Coke  styles  himself  "Superintendent  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  America."  This  document  was 
written  not  more  than  three  days  after  the  action  of 
the  Conference  by  which  the  name  and  title  of  the 
Church  was  settled.  Again  the  official  books  of  the 
connection  are  in  evidence.  From  1784  to  1800  the 
Discipline  and  other  publications  of  the  Church  bore  on 
their  title-pages  the  legend  "in  America."  After  that 
date  the  words  "in  America"  disappeared  from  the  title- 
pages  of  Methodist  books  and  instead  was  printed 
simply  "The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  A  no  less 
significant  record  was  made  in  the  General  Minutes. 
From  1790  to  1799,  inclusive,  these  Minutes  contained 
annually  the  following  question  regularly  answered — 
to  wit:  "Question.  Who  are  elected  by  the  unanimous 
suffrages  of  the  General  Conference  to  act  as  general 
superintendents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
America?" 

At  the  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  1796  a 
formal  change  of  the  title  of  the  Church  was  effected 
by  virtue  of  several  actions  then  taken  by  the  Confer- 
ence. The  first  of  these  was  an  order  creating  "the 
Trustees  of  the  Fund  for  the  Relief  and  Support  of  the 
Itinerant,  Superannuated,  and  Worn-Out  Ministers 
and  Preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States  of  America,"  etc.  Dr.  Bangs,  in 
his  "History  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church" 
(Vol.  II.,  page  45,  edition  of  1840),  says  that  these 


126  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Trustees  were,  soon  after  their  constitution  by  the 
General  Conference,  incorporated  as  a  legal  body  under 
the  laws  of  Pennsylvania.  So  far  as  we  can  learn,  this 
is  the  first  legal  incorporation  of  any  name  or  title 
used  by  the  early  American  Methodists.  The  sec- 
ond action  bearing  on  the  matter  of  the  Church  name 
was  that  by  which  the  Conference  ordered  inserted 
in  the  Book  of  Discipline  a  property  title  clause  di- 
recting Church  deeds  to  be  made  to  "the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America." 
This  name  persisted  in  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  the 
undivided  Methodist  Church  from  1796  to  the  sepa- 
ration of  1844,  and  still  persists  in  the  Book  of  Disci- 
pline of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (North),  the 
other  separated  part  of  original  Methodism. 

It  is  curiously  as  well  as  historically  interesting  to 
note  how  this  change  in  the  name  of  the  Church  is 
likely  to  have  come  about.  When  the  Conference — 
that  is,  the  progressive  sitting  of  the  itinerants — met 
in  New  York  City  in  1789,  the  Bishops,  Coke  and 
Asbury,  called  on  General  Washington,  then  officially 
in  the  city,  and  presented  him  with  an  address.  In 
signing  this  address  they  styled  themselves  simply  "the 
Bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,"  as  was 
generally  done  in  current  writing.  General  Washing- 
ton in  the  paper  of  courtesy  which  he  returned  ad- 
dressed the  two  general  superintendents  as  "the  Bish- 
ops of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America."  The  national  title  was  then  one 
to  conjure  with.  Civic  pride  was  at  high  tide.  Surely 
and  rather  quickly  the  symbol  of  the  republic  became 
a   member  of  the   phrase  which   made   the   Church's 


A  Manifold  Stewardship.  127 

name.  It  was  distinctly  limiting;  but  in  that  good 
time  of  national  infancy  no  serious  thought  of  what 
had  really  been  done  or  what  might  eventually  come 
of  it  obtruded  upon  the  minds  of  the  fathers.  But  it 
so  happened  that  the  original  name  was  changed,  and 
in  the  way  described,  which  history  gives  meaning  to 
the  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1820  in  eliding 
the  words  "in  America"  from  the  name  of  the 
Church's  missionary  society. 

As  the  quadrennium  of  1816-20  drew  to  a  close 
a  profound  conviction  settled  upon  Soule  that  he 
should  not  under  any  circumstances  accept  the  post 
of  Book  Steward  and  Editor  for  another  term.  Bish- 
op McTyeire  reports  him  as  saying  long  years  after- 
wards that  he  would  not  again  endure  "the  wear  and 
tear,  the  drudgery  and  worry,  the  anxiety  and  respon- 
sibility of  those  four  years  in  the  Book  Concern  for  all 
of  200  Mulberry  Street."  His  election  had  been  whol- 
ly unsolicited  and  undesired.  He  accepted  the  trust 
without  consulting  his  own  wishes  or  judgment.  He 
was  now  determined  to  lay  it  down,  consulting  only 
his  own  wishes  and  judgment.  He  longed  to  be  back 
in  the  pastorate,  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  he  enter- 
tained no  expectation  that  the  votes  of  his  brethren 
would  call  him  at  the  end  of  his  term  to  the  office  of 
the  episcopacy ;  least  of  all  did  he  anticipate  the  ex- 
traordinary situation  which  would  render  it  necessary 
for  him  to  decline  the  preference  of  his  brethren  as 
expressed  in  their  electoral  vote. 

Coming  up  to  the  General  Conference,  he  found  that 
his  fellow-delegates  had  only  words  of  approval  for 
his  administration  of  their  publishing  affairs  and  the 


128  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

successful  manner  in  which  he  had  established  and 
conducted  the  Methodist  Magazine.  To  these  words 
of  approval  they  added  the  substantial  testimonial  of 
a  thousand  dollars  voted  from  the  surplus  of  the  Book 
Concern  to  supplement  his  all  too  meager  salary  for 
the  quadrennium.  These  tokens  of  appreciation  must 
have  made  it  only  more  difficult  for  him  to  take  the 
strong  stand  against  the  majority  action  of  the  Con- 
ference which  loyalty  to  the  constitution  and  convic- 
tions of  duty  made  necessary.  But  human  conduct 
never  carried  a  more  certain  manifest  of  sincerity  and 
self-devotion  than  did  his  behavior  throughout  the 
course  of  affairs  we  are  now  to  discuss. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

An  Effective  Protest. 

The  various  stages  of  American  Methodist  history 
have  issued  from  dynamical  conditions  brought  to  the 
explosive  point  by  the  actions  of  the  Church's  law- 
making assembly.  Perhaps  this  observation  is  axio- 
matic enough  to  be  applied  to  the  work  of  other  large 
religious  bodies  and  to  that  of  State  Legislatures,  but 
the  student  will  at  once  see  its  applicability  to  Meth- 
odism. Passing  by  the  history  of  the  American  Meth- 
odist societies  anterior  to  1784,  we  may  select  certain 
sessions  of  the  General  Conference  as  special  instru- 
ments of  those  epoch-making  forces  whose  effects  are 
traceable  in  both  the  spirit  and  structure  of  Methodism 
to-day. 

The  session  of  the  General  Conference  which  was 
convened  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  on  May  I,  1820, 
was  destined  to  be  memorable  amongst  the  always 
memorable  sittings  of  that  body.  During  ten  or  twelve 
days  of  its  nearly  four  weeks  of  existence  the  thought 
and  feeling  of  the  body  remained  tense,  and  at  times 
manifested  considerable  suppressed  excitement  under 
the  weight  of  the  old  question  as  to  whether  the  pre- 
siding elders  should  be  appointed  by  the  bishops  or 
elected  by  the  Annual  Conferences.  Bishop  McTyeire, 
whom  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  refer  to  as  one 
who  enjoyed  exceptional  opportunities  of  receiving 
from  Bishop  Soule  views  and  impressions  of  those 
historic  events  in  which  the  latter  was  a  chief  actor, 
9  (129) 


130  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

says  that  the  excitement  stirred  by  the  discussion  of 
this  question  "can  now  hardly  be  realized."  With  this 
inside  view,  obtained  from  so  reliable  a  source,  Bish- 
op McTyeire  felt  justified  in  affirming  that  Soule's 
"unyielding  advocacy  of  our  executive  system  in  1820, 
and  his  firm  stand  then  made,  saved  it ;  and  in  saving 
it,  clearly  and  without  compromise,  the  working  en- 
ergy and  evangelism  of  the  whole  Church  was  main- 
tained." The  same  writer,  drawing  his  knowledge 
from  the  same  confidential  source,  is  able  to  inform 
us  that  Bishop  Soule's  "old  and  beloved  colleague, 
Bishop  Hedding,  afterwards  told  him  that  he  looked 
on  his  decisive  action,  especially  in  1820,  in  that  light." 
To  properly  appreciate  the  significance  of  this  tes- 
timony it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  Bishop  Hedding 
was  a  partisan  against  Soule  in  the  memorable  con- 
test of  this  year,  and  was  afterwards  elected  to  the 
episcopacy  largely  by  the  votes  of  the  advocates  of  an 
elective  presiding  eldership.  Dr.  John  J.  Tigert  (aft- 
erwards bishop),  in  his  "Constitutional  History  of 
Episcopal  Methodism,"  affirms,  and  very  safely,  that 
"an  orderly  array  of  the  facts  in  this  case  constitutes 
a  sufficient  vindication  of  Mr.  Soule."  In  the  valuable 
material  which  he  brought  together  in  the  chapter  of 
his  history  given  to  this  General  Conference  he  did 
much  to  make  this  orderly  array  possible.  His  con- 
cern, however,  was  to  use  this  material  in  its  single 
relation  to  the  constitution,  and  not  to  assort  and  make 
it  live  as  a  part  of  the  character  and  being  of  Joshua 
Soule. 

I  am  made  conscious  here  that,  vital  as  is  this  history, 
as  also  that  involved  in  the  debates  of  1844,  no  hand 


An  Effective  Protest.  131 

before  my  own  has  undertaken  the  difficult  task  of 
molding  into  the  aspects  of  personality  and  giving  bi- 
ographical shape  to  that  part  of  it  over  which  fell  the 
shadow  and  into  which  entered  the  spirit  and  faith 
of  the  author  of  the  constitution.  This  consciousness 
is  of  a  sort  to  inspire  satisfaction,  but  at  the  same  time 
to  beget  feelings  of  diffidence  and  hesitation.  A  su- 
preme duty  of  Methodism  will  remain  unperformed 
until  the  story  of  this  man  has  been  fully,  frankly, 
and  sympathetically  told. 

The  Committee  on  Episcopacy  appointed  by  the 
General  Conference  of  1820  brought  in  its  report  on 
the  twelfth  day  of  the  session.  The  report  dwelt  with 
tender  and  affectionate  solicitude  upon  the  too  appar- 
ent fact  of  "the  declining  health  and  strength"  of  the 
Senior  Superintendent,  William  McKendree,  "worn 
down  by  long  and  extensive  and  faithful  labors  in  the 
service  of  God  and  the  Church."  The  report  then 
turned  to  a  consideration  of  the  state  of  the  episcopacy 
and  closed  with  the  recommendation  "that  it  is  ex- 
pedient that  one  additional  General  Superintendent  be 
elected  and  ordained  during  the  session  of  this  Gen- 
eral Conference."  On  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  ses- 
sion, near  the  beginning  of  the  morning  sitting,  the 
Conference,  acting  on  the  recommendation  oif  the 
committee,  proceeded  to  an  election.  After  the  sing- 
ing of  several  stanzas  of  a  hymn  and  an  invocation 
by  Freeborn  Garrettson,  the  ballot  was  taken.  A  total 
of  eighty-eight  votes  was  reported,  of  which  Joshua 
Soule  received  forty-seven  and  Nathan  Bangs  thirty- 
eight.  The  remaining  three  were  scattering.  Joshua 
Soule  having  received  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast, 


132  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

was  declared  to  be  duly  elected  to  the  office  of  a  bishop, 
he  being  the  seventh  in  the  order  of  succession  from 
Thomas  Coke,  the  eighth  from  John  Wesley. 

The  juncture  of  affairs  at  this  stage  of  the  Confer- 
ence was  happy  and  the  outlook  was  promising,  if 
not  wholly  reassuring.  Soule  was  clearly  the  choice 
of  the  Conference  for  the  episcopacy,  and  that  on  the 
high  ground  of  merit.  Party  spirit  had  not  nominated 
him,  nor  had  divergence  of  sentiment  controlled  in  his 
election.  Although  he  had  been  previously  unaware 
of  the  general  preference  of  his  brethren,  nobody  saw 
more  clearly  than  the  bishop  elect  the  spontaneity  of 
favor  that  had  called  him.  He  must  therefore  have 
looked  forward  with  much  satisfaction,  if  still  with 
a  burdening  sense  of  responsibility,  to  years  of  labor 
and  ministry  as  the  servant  of  all  his  brethren.  The 
ordination  was  appointed  by  the  bishops  to  take  place 
at  11  a.m.  on  Wednesday,  May  24,  being  the  eleventh 
day  after  the  election.  At  least  this  is  what  the  Jour- 
nal would  seem  to  indicate;  but  I  am  of  the  opinion 
that  an  earlier  date  was  at  first  named,  which  was  later 
changed,  and  only  the  latter  date  taken  notice  of  in 
the  Journal.* 

*Since  the  above  paragraph  was  written  I  have  discovered 
indubitable  evidence  of  the  fact  that  an  earlier  date  had  been 
set  for  Soule's  ordination.  It  is  contained  in  an  autograph 
letter  of  Bishop  McKendree  which  has  not  before  been  pub- 
lished, and  which  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  turn  up  in  the 
accumulation  of  documents  and  letters  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made.  This  letter  shows  that  Friday,  the 
19th  day  of  May,  was  first  fixed  for  the  ordination.  What 
could    have    been    the    motive    or    reason    determining    the 


An  Effective  Protest.  133 

A  few  days  previous  to  the  episcopal  election,  though 
the  Journal  contains  no  note  of  the  fact,  Messrs.  Mer- 
ritt  and  Waugh  revived  in  a  motion  submitted  to  the 
house  the  presiding  elder  question  which  had  been  voted 
down  by  so  slender  a  majority  in  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1812,  and  which  had  also  been  rejected  in  the 
session  of  1816.  The  Journal  nowhere  contains  a 
statement  of  the  form  in  which  the  Merritt  and  Waugh 
motion  was  put,  but  the  information  has  been  secured 
from  an  extraneous  and  reliable  source.  Bishop  Paine, 
in  his  "Life  and  Times  of  Bishop  McKendree,"  sup- 
plies the  missing  record,  quoting  it  from  an  unpub- 
lished manuscript  by  Bishop  Capers,  who  was  him- 
self a  member  of  the  General  Conference  of  1820  and 
an  active  participant  in  the  debates  on  this  motion. 


change?  Could  there  have  been  expressed  in  it  a  wish  to 
secure  the  passage  of  the  resolutions  before  the  ordination 
took  place?  The  reader  will  have  to  decide  the  point  for 
himself.    The  letter  is  as  follows : 

"To  Bishops  George  and  Roberts. — Dear  Brethren:  On 
Thursday  afternoon  I  addressed  a  note  to  you  that  I  had  ar- 
rived in  town  for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  ordination  on 
Friday  at  11  o'clock,  according  to  our  previous  mutual  agree- 
ment. In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  I  was  verbally  informed 
that  it  was  put  off  till  the  Sabbath.  I  have  waited  till  this 
time  and  have  received  no  further  communication  from  you 
relative  to  the  time.  My  health  requires  that  I  should  retire 
into  the  country  as  soon  as  possible,  and  think  I  cannot  tarry 
longer  than  Tuesday  evening.  I  wish  the  ordination  to  take 
place  in  the  Conference  before  I  go  out.  You  will  therefore 
fix  the  time  and  give  me  information,  and  I  will  attend. 

"Yours  respectfully,  W.  McKendree. 

"Monday  morning,  May  22,   1820." 


134  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

This  manuscript  says:  "Early  in  the  second  week  of 
the  General  Conference  of  1820  T.  Merritt,  of  New 
England,  seconded  by  B.  Waugh,  of  Baltimore,  moved 
so  to  amend  the  Discipline  that  the  answer  to  the  first 
question  in  Section  5  of  Chapter  I.,  'By  whom  are 
the  presiding  elders  to  be  chosen  ?'  to  read  as  follows : 
'Answer.    By  the  Conferences.'  " 

At  the  time  of  the  introduction  of  this  motion  it 
was  read  and  sent  to  the  table.  The  first  notice  that 
we  have  in  the  Journal  of  its  presence  on  the  calendar 
is  an  entry  made  on  the  sixteenth  day,  three  days 
after  Soule's  election.  This  entry  reads :  "Moved  and 
seconded  to  call  up  the  resolution  that  had  been  laid 
on  the  table  relating  to  the  choice  of  presiding  elders. 
Carried."  This  call  was  made  near  the  hour  of  the 
noon  adjournment,  and  after  some  parliamentary  ma- 
neuvers, one  of  which  was  an  attempt  to  secure  an  in- 
definite postponement,  the  way  was  cleared  for  the  bat- 
tle of  arguments ;  but,  adjournment  being  ordered,  the 
question  was  left  pending.  The  entire  afternoon  of 
Tuesday,  May  16,  was  consumed  in  the  debate,  and  on 
Wednesday,  after  the  reports  of  committees  had  been 
heard,  the  motion  came  up  as  unfinished  business.  In 
the  discussion  Dr.  William  Capers  and  Samuel  Dun- 
woddy  took  strong  grounds  against  the  measure,  while 
A.  Griffith  and  others  supported  the  affirmative.  Again 
the  hour  of  adjournment  left  the  question  pending, 
and  the  contest  was  renewed  at  the  afternoon  sitting. 
Near  the  hour  of  afternoon  adjournment  it  was  moved 
and  carried  that  "the  present  motion  lie  on  the  table 
until  to-morrow  morning/' 

The  discussion  promised  to  be  an  interminable  one, 


An  Effective  Protest.  135 

and  party  feeling  had  reached  a  high  pitch.  The  onset 
had  been  Titanic  from  both  sides,  for  both  parties  real- 
ized that  the  hour  was  crucial  Dr.  Bangs,  who,  it 
will  be  remembered,  strongly  favored  the  proposed 
legislation,  says  in  his  history:  "Perhaps  a  greater 
amount  of  talent  was  never  brought  to  bear  upon  any 
question  ever  brought  before  the  General  Conference 
than  was  elicited  from  both  sides  of  the  house  in  the 
discussion  of  this  resolution.  Some  of  the  speeches 
were  deep,  pungent,  and  highly  argumentative,  the 
speakers  throwing  their  whole  souls  into  the  subject 
and  winding  themselves  up  to  the  highest  pitch  of  im- 
passioned eloquence,  often  concluding  with  a  tremen- 
dous appeal  to  the  understandings  and  consciences  of 
their  antagonists,  both  sides  invoking  the  future  pros- 
perity of  the  Church  as  an  auxiliary  to  their  argu- 
ments." It  began  to  be  apparent  to  the  leading  advo- 
cates of  the  movement  for  an  elective  presiding  elder- 
ship that  the  measure  could  never  carry  in  the  radical 
form  in  which  it  was  pending.  They  also  now  realized 
that,  if  by  any  chance  it  should  ever  obtain  the  favor 
of  a  majority,  the  result  of  its  application  would  be 
disturbing  to  the  last  degree.  They  therefore  began  to 
cast  about  for  a  form  of  resolution  that  could  both 
command  a  majority  vote  and  secure  a  more  general 
unity  of  sentiment.  Of  the  two  Bishops,  George  and 
Roberts,  elected  in  1816,  the  former  was  known  to 
be  in  favor  of  an  elective  presiding  eldership.  His 
sympathies  had  been  steadily  with  the  advocates  of 
the  measure,  and  he  it  was  who  now  undertook  to 
shape  the  course  of  compromise.  When  on  the  sev- 
enteenth day  the  motion  was  tabled  "until  to-morrow," 


136  Life  of  Joshua  Soale. 

as  above  related,  it  was  that  the  mover  of  the  post- 
ponement, Ezekiel  Cooper,  might  bring  forward  a  sub- 
stitute that  would,  as  he  supposed,  "be  accommodating 
to  both  parties."  Both  Bishop  Capers  and  Bishop 
Emory,  who  were  on  opposite  sides  in  this  discussion, 
agree  in  their  later  writings  that  it  was  generally  un- 
derstood that  Bishop  George  was  the  author  of  this 
paper.  As  recorded  in  the  Journal  it  reads:  "Re- 
solved, etc.,  that  the  bishop  or  the  president  of  such 
Annual  Conference  shall  ascertain  the  number  of  pre- 
siding elders  wanted,  and  shall  nominate  three  times 
the  number,  out  of  which  nomination  the  Conference 
shall,  without  debate,  elect  by  ballot  the  presiding 
elders."  It  will  be  seen  that  this  was  the  old  demand 
of  1812  and  1816  slightly  modified;  but  being  a  mod- 
ification and  receding  materially  from  the  unvarnished 
radicalism  of  the  Merritt-Waugh  motion,  it  was  be- 
lieved that  it  would  "accommodate."  The  situation 
which  it  created  was  both  interesting  and  serious. 

The  substitute  of  Cooper  was  laid  on  the  table  along 
with  the  original  motion.  When  the  order  arrived 
the  next  day,  the  original  motion  was  again  deferred 
to  give  time  for  the  discussion  of  the  substitute.  Mat- 
ters now  took  a  new  and  sudden  turn.  The  hand  of 
Bishop  George  was  again  interposed,  and,  through 
Messrs.  Capers  and  Emory,  he  secured  the  bringing  in 
of  a  motion  to  the  effect  that  six  members  of  the  Con- 
ference— three  from  either  side  of  the  controversy — 
be  appointed  to  wait  on  the  bishops  and  confer  with 
them  as  to  what  alterations  might  be  made  to  conciliate 
the  wishes  of  the  brethren  on  this  subject.  The  com- 
mittee, being  appointed,  was  instructed  to  interview 


An  Effective  Protest.  137 

the  bishops  and  report  to  the  Conference  on  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

The  bishops  were  met  that  afternoon,  but  no  defi- 
nite action  was  suggested  to  the  committee  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  interview.  Bishop  McKendree  expressed 
himself  as  flatly  opposed  to  any  change  in  the  rule, 
but  the  other  two  bishops  were  favorable  to  some  al- 
teration. Another  meeting  was  appointed  for  the  fol- 
lowing morning,  but  it  did  not  take  place.  At  noon, 
however,  Bishop  George  consulted  with  the  committee ; 
and  after  some  very  searching  questions  asked  by  the 
negative  side,  it  was  agreed  that  the  following  reso- 
lutions should  be  reported  to  the  Conference — viz. : 
"1.  That  whenever  in  any  Annual  Conference  there 
shall  be  a  vacancy  or  vacancies  in  the  office  of  pre- 
siding elder  in  consequence  of  his  period  of  service  of 
four  years  having  expired  or  the  bishop  wishing  to 
remove  any  presiding  elder,  or  by  death,  resignation, 
or  otherwise,  the  bishop  or  president  of  the  Conference 
having  ascertained  the  number  wanted  from  any  of 
these  causes,  shall  nominate  three  times  the  number, 
out  of  which  the  Conference  shall  elect  by  ballot,  with- 
out debate,  the  number  wanted;  provided,  when  there 
is  more  than  one  wanted  not  more  than  three  at  a 
time  shall  be  nominated,  and  not  more  than  one  at  a 
time  elected;  provided,  also,  that  in  case  of  any  va- 
cancy or  vacancies  in  the  office  of  presiding  elder  in 
the  interval  of  any  Annual  Conference,  the  bishop 
shall  have  the  authority  to  fill  the  said  vacancy  or  va- 
cancies until  the  ensuing  Annual  Conference.  2.  That 
the  presiding  elders  be,  and  hereby  are,  made  the  ad- 


138  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

visory  council  of  the  bishop  or  president  of  the  Con- 
ference in  stationing  the  preachers." 

This  resolution  was  written  by  Dr.  Emory  (after- 
wards bishop),  but  was  signed  by  the  entire  committee, 
including  Stephen  G.  Roszel,  Joshua  Wells,  and  Wil- 
liam Capers,  who  had  been  strongly  committed  against 
an  elective  presiding  eldership. 

The  principle  of  this  resolution  was  not  different 
(as  Bishop  George  himself  declared)  from  the  old  de- 
mands. It  took  the  appointment  of  the  presiding  eld- 
ers out  of  the  hands  of  the  bishops  and  put  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  Conferences,  and  that  under  a  rule  cum- 
bersome, awkward,  and  calculated  to  breed  "a  sea  of 
troubles"  in  the  Annual  Conferences.  But  the  dele- 
gates had  grown  weary  of  strife  and  were  rilled  with 
apprehensions,  so  much  so  that  when  the  new  reso- 
lution was  put  on  its  passage  that  afternoon  it  received 
sixty-one  out  of  eighty-six  votes,  and  was  declared 
adopted.  Thus  was  a  contention,  begun  in  1792  by 
James  O 'Kelly  and  constantly  renewed  for  twenty- 
eight  years,  but  as  constantly  frowned  upon,  at  last  suc- 
cessful in  commanding  a  majority  vote  of  the  General 
Conference.  "Great  joy  was  expressed  at  this  union," 
writes  a  member  of  the  Conference.  "All  now  were 
in  fellowship,  if  words  could  be  taken  as  evidence." 
"It  was  hoped  by  many  on  both  sides  of  the  house," 
says  Dr.  Bangs,  "that  this  long-agitated  question  would 
be  permitted  to  rest  in  quiet."  There  was  indeed  quiet 
for  a  time,  but  it  was  a  quiet  that  came  of  the  mis- 
guided action  of  men  who  in  a  crucial  struggle  had 
sacrificed  their  convictions  for  a  false  peace,  and  who 
were  now  speechless. 


An  Effective  Protest.  139 

A  majority  of  the  Conference  was  against  the  prin- 
ciple involved  in  the  new  rule ;  they  were  for  the  con- 
stitution unimpaired,  but  they  had  been  harried  into 
submission  by  the  minority.  A  great  and  courageous 
leader  had  been  needed.  There  was  a  man  near  by 
who  might  fully  have  supplied  that  lack,  but  he  had 
been  previously  bound  with  the  fetters  of  an  episcopal 
election.  Considerations  of  delicacy  and  propriety  made 
it  impossible  for  him  to  enter  the  lists  of  debate.  His 
halfway  station  between  the  seat  of  a  delegate  and 
the  episcopal  chair  put  him  where  his  advice  could 
neither  be  sought  nor  given.  He  could  only  sit  by  as 
a  listener  and  spectator.  He  had  indeed  silently  pro- 
tested with  his  vote  as  one  of  the  twenty-five  who  went 
to  record  against  the  compromise  resolution.  He  had 
waited.  But  the  time  had  come  when  it  was  necessary 
that  he  should  wait  no  longer.  He  was  now  to  enter 
an  effective  protest — one  consonant  with  the  delicacy 
of  his  situation,  one  worthy  of  him,  and  of  which  the 
after  age  should  hear. 

At  the  critical  moment  Joshua  Soule  made  a  stand. 
"By  the  very  nature  and  look  and  carriage  of  the  man, 
he  was  one  to  make  a  stand."  He  was  accustomed 
to  meeting  difficulties  with  frankness  and  courage. 
Every  attitude  which  he  assumed  was  sublime.  He 
was  as  free  from  the  mock  heroic  as  he  was  from  the 
role  of  the  clown.  "His  courage  was  calm  and  great, 
his  perceptions  clear,  his  convictions  firm,  his  survey 
of  the  situation  thorough.  lie  was  not  impatient.  He 
had  faith  in  truth  and  right,  that  in  good  time  they 
would  be  vindicated."  Having  planted  himself  upon 
a  conviction,  he  was  immovable. 


140  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Immediately  following  the  action  of  the  Conference 
in  adopting  the  "presiding  elder"  resolutions,  Joshua 
Soule  asked  leave  of  absence  from  the  Conference 
sitting.  Without  unnecessary  delay,  but  "after  a 
prayerful  and  mature  consideration  of  the  subject," 
he  penned  a  letter  to  Bishops  George  and  Roberts, 
excluding  from  the  address  the  name  of  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree  because  of  the  absence  of  the  Senior  Super- 
intendent from  the  city.    This  letter  reads  as  follows : 

Dear  Bishops;  In  consequence  of  an  act  of  the  General 
Conference  passed  this  day,  in  which  I  conceive  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  violated  and  that 
episcopal  government  which  has  heretofore  distinguished  her 
greatly  enervated  by  a  transfer  of  executive  power  from  the 
episcopacy  to  the  several  Annual  Conferences,  it  becomes  my 
duty  to  notify  you,  from  the  imposition  of  whose  hands  only  I 
can  be  qualified  for  the  office  of  superintendent,  that,  under 
the  existing  state  of  things,  I  cannot,  consistently  with  my 
convictions  of  propriety  and  obligation,  enter  upon  the  work 
of  an  itinerant  general  superintendent. 

I  was  elected  under  the  constitution  and  government  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  unimpaired.  On  no  other  consid- 
eration but  that  of  their  continuance  would  I  have  consented 
to  be  considered  a  candidate  for  a  relation  in  which  were  in- 
corporated such  arduous  labors  and  awful  responsibilities. 

I  do  not  feel  myself  at  liberty  to  wrest  myself  from  your 
hands,  as  the  act  of  the  General  Conference  has  placed  me 
in  them;  but  I  solemnly  declare,  and  could  appeal  to  the 
Searcher  of  hearts  for  the  sincerity  of  my  intention,  that  I 
cannot  act  as  superintendent  under  the  rules  this  day  made 
and  established  by  the  General  Conference. 

With  this  open  and  undisguised  declaration  before  you, 
your  wisdom  will  dictate  the  course  proper  to  be  pursued. 

I  ardently  desire  peace,  and,  if  it  will  tend  to  promote  it, 
am  willing,  perfectly  willing  that  my  name  should  rest  in  for- 
getfulness.  J.  Soule. 


An  Effective  Protest.  141 

This  letter  was  written  on  Friday  the  19th,  but  it 
was  Monday  the  226.  before  Bishop  Roberts,  with 
whom  it  had  been  lodged,  could  bring  it  to  the  at- 
tention of  Bishop  McKendree.  Bishop  Roberts  "ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  the  bishop  elect  did  not  seem 
disposed  to  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  General 
Conference."  Without  time  to  carefully  study  the 
communication,  Bishop  McKendree  doubted  if  such 
a  sentiment  were  expressed  in  it.  It  is  impossible, 
whatever  method  of  interpretation  be  used  upon  the 
letter,  to  extract  from  it  this  meaning;  but  it  is  in- 
dicative of  the  prevalence  of  partisan  feeling  that  a 
man  so  naturally  conservative  as  Bishop  Roberts 
should  be  able  to  so  misread  a  brother's  statement. 

The  Church  was  most  fortunate  in  having  had  a 
careful  record  of  this  particular  part  of  the  transac- 
tion preserved  by  Bishop  McKendree  in  his  Journal. 
It  was  agreed,  he  says,  between  him  and  Bishop  Rob- 
erts that  the  latter  should  see  Mr.  Soule  and  report 
at  a  meeting  of  the  bishops  the  next  morning.  It 
was  also  agreed  that  should  Mr.  Soule  express  any 
purpose  to  ignore  an  act  of  the  General  Conference, 
his  ordination  could  not  be  proceeded  with.  Bishop 
George  visited  him  according  to  agreement,  and  the 
result,  as  stated  in  the  language  of  Bishop  McKen- 
dree, was  that  "Soule  disavowed  the  sentiment  which 
the  letter  was  supposed  to  contain,  and  stated  his 
views  on  the  back  of  the  letter  in  terms  too  plain  to  be 
misunderstood."* 

*At  the  special  request  of  Bishop  McKendree,  I  hereby  cer- 
tify that  in  the  above  statement  I  mean  no  more  than  that  I 
cannot,  consistently  with  my  views  of  propriety  and  respon- 


142  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

The  bishops  met  the  next  morning  according  to  ap- 
pointment. When  they  had  carefully  read  the  two 
letters  of  the  bishop  elect,  it  was  clear  that  he  had 
done  two  things:  (i)  he  had  fully  cleared  himself  of 
contumacious  sentiment;  (2)  but  he  put  the  bishops 
themselves  to  test  on  the  constitutionality  of  the  "pre- 
siding eldership"  question.  Bishop  McKendree  con- 
sidered it  unconstitutional.  With  the  eye-opening  let- 
ter of  Soule  before  him,  Bishop  Roberts  expressed 
the  belief  that  the  measure  was  "an  infringement  of 
the  constitution."  "Bishop  George  chose  to  be  silent." 
The  question  now  was:  Should  they  proceed,  under 
the  existing  circumstances,  with  the  ordination  of  the 
bishop  elect?  It  was  unanimously  agreed  that  he 
should  be  ordained,  and  to  Bishop  George  was  as- 
signed the  task  of  preparing  the  credentials  and  the 
preaching  of  the  ordination  sermon. 

Thus  the  bishops  saw  their  way,  but  felt  that  a  com- 
munication was  due  the  Conference.  The  bishop  elect 
also  approved  this  course,  and  Bishop  McKendree  was 
charged  with  the  important  task. 

The  Conference  being  assembled,  the  venerable  sen- 
ior bishop  appeared  before  it,  and,  reading  the  letter 
of  the  bishop  elect,  informed  the  body  of  the  decision 
of  the  bishops  to  proceed  with  the  ordination,  and  also 
gave  "an  intimation  of  their  opinion  respecting  the 
constitutional  difficulty."  This  "intimation"  was  in 
the  form  of  a  rather  lengthy  review  of  the  situation, 

sibility,  administer  that  part  of  the  government  particularly 
embraced  in  the  act  of  the  General  Conference  above  men- 
tioned. Joshua  Soule. 


An  Effective  Protest.  143 

in  which  McKendree  expressed  in  vigorous  terms  his 
personal  judgment  of  the  resolution  as  "leaving  the 
bishops  divested  of  their  power  to  oversee  the  business 
of  the  Church  under  the  full  responsibility  of  General 
Superintendents."  Continuing,  he  said:  "I  extremely 
regret  that  you  have,  by  this  measure,  reduced  me  to 
the  painful  necessity  of  pronouncing  the  resolution 
unconstitutional,  and  therefore  destitute  of  the  proper 
authority  of  the  Church.  .  .  .  Under  the  influence 
of  this  sentiment,  and  considering  the  importance  of 
the  subject,  I  enter  this  protest/' 

Nor  did  the  venerable  man  stop  at  this.  Reasoning 
that  if  the  constitution  may  be  violated  in  one  par- 
ticular it  may  be  so  violated  in  any,  in  all,  he  then 
adds:  "Believing  as  I  do  that  this  resolution  is  unau- 
thorized by  the  constitution,  and  therefore  not  to  be 
regarded  as  a  rule  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
I  consider  myself  under  no  obligation  to  enforce  it 
or  enjoin  it  on  others  to  do  so."  That  a  profound  im- 
pression was  created  upon  the  Conference  by  the 
reading  of  the  letter  of  Mr.  Soule  and  the  protest  of 
Bishop  McKendree  may  well  be  imagined.  Dr.  Bangs 
says  the  situation  "led  to  a  serious  suspense  in  respect 
to  the  expediency  of  the  measure."  Such  was  the  re- 
spect for  the  character  and  judgment  of  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree, as  also  for  Mr.  Soule,  that  immediately  a 
purpose  to  rescind  the  offensive  resolutions  began  to 
take  shape.  The  extreme  advocates  of  the  new  rule, 
however,  took  great  umbrage  at  the  course  of  the 
senior  bishop  and  the  bishop  elect. 

As  already  noted,  the  ordination  was  appointed  for 
the  hour  of  11  a.m.  Wednesday,  May  24.     The  pre- 


144  Life  of  Joshua  Souk. 

sentation  of  Bishop  McKendree's  protest  and  the  read- 
ing of  Mr.  Soule's  letter  occurred  near  the  middle  of 
the  morning  session  on  Tuesday,  May  23.  During 
the  noon  recess  "those  in  favor  of  a  change  held  a 
caucus  without  consulting  those  not  in  favor  of  a 
change,  and  agreed  to  arrest  the  ordination  of  Joshua 
Soule."  This  statement,  made  by  Bishop  Capers,  ex- 
plains a  motion  offered  in  the  afternoon  session  of  the 
same  day  by  D.  Ostrander  and  J.  Smith,  as  follows : 

Whereas  Brother  Joshua  Soule,  bishop  elect,  has  signified 
in  his  letter  to  the  episcopacy,  which  letter  was  read  in  open 
Conference,  that  if  he  be  ordained  bishop  he  will  not  hold 
himself  bound  by  a  certain  resolution  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence relative  to  the  nomination  and  election  of  presiding 
elders ;  wherefore, 

Resolved,  That  the  bishops  be  earnestly  requested  by  this 
Conference  to  defer  or  postpone  the  ordination  of  the  said 
Joshua  Soule  until  he  gives  satisfactory  explanations  to  this 
Conference. 

The  candid  student  can  but  be  surprised  at  the  lan- 
guage of  this  resolution,  in  view  of  Mr.  Soule's  frank 
and  unequivocal  statements ;  but  the  excitement  of  the 
moment  had  attributed  to  the  bishop  elect  the  language 
of  protest  employed  by  Bishop  McKendree.  It  was 
not  only  the  privilege  but  the  duty  of  Bishop  McKen- 
dree to  speak  in  protest  against  any  unconstitutional 
act  of  the  majority;  while  the  situation  of  Mr.  Soule 
was  one  which  demanded  reserve  and  sacrifice.  It 
began  to  be  clear  to  him  that  with  the  new  rule  in 
force  he  could  never  accept  ordination  to  the  episco- 
pacy. Had  he  been  already  ordained,  his  position 
would  no  doubt  have  been  that  of  Mr.  McKendree, 


An  Effective  Protest.  145 

and  his  language  could  not  have  been  lacking  in  frank- 
ness. As  he  now  stood  he  could  not  act  as  defender 
of  the  constitution,  but  only  as  a  sacrifice  upon  its 
altar.* 

A  debate  sprinkled,  as  it  would  appear,  with  acrid- 
ity and  criticism,  followed  the  introduction  of  the  Os- 
trander  resolution  proposing  to  arrest  the  ordination. 
Upon  this  Mr.  Soule  asked  the  privilege  of  making  a 
statement.  That  his  remarks  had  the  effect  of  clear- 
ing him  wholly  from  the  imputation  contained  in  the 

*From  the  fragment  of  a  manuscript  unquestionably  in 
Bishop  McKendree's  handwriting  I  make  these  extracts:  "At 
an  advanced  stage  of  the  debate  the  Conference  appointed  a 
committee  composed  of  leading  characters  on  both  sides  of 
the  question  to  consult  the  bishops  on  the  subject.  The 
senior  bishop,  in  consequence  of  great  debility,  was  much  con- 
fined to  his  room.  Therefore  the  other  bishops  and  the  com- 
mittee waited  on  him  and  obtained  his  opinion  unfavorable 
to  the  proposition  before  the  Conference.  The  bishop  who 
had  put  off  the  ordination  of  the  bishop  elect,  without  di- 
rection from  the  Conference  or  consulting  his  colleagues,  in- 
vited the  committee  to  meet  him.  They  did  so ;  and  there, 
by  his  influence,  as  I  understood,  the  motion  which  had  been 
under  discussion  was  remodeled  and  a  compromise  agreed 
to,  etc.  .  .  .  The  senior  bishop  submitted  the  propriety 
of  developing  our  situation  and  the  state  of  things  to  Con- 
ference. It  was  judged  proper  to  do  so,  and  he  was  re- 
quested to  make  the  communication.  .  .  .  The  Confer- 
ence after  receiving  the  information  became  much  agitated. 
Various  attempts  were  made  to  criminate  the  bishop  elect, 
but  none  could  be  made  to  hold.  He  had  only  stated  his 
views  to  the  bishops.  .  .  .  They  had  resolved  to  receive 
and  ordain  him.  I  heard  no  objection  to  the  bishops'  reso- 
lution to  ordain  the  bishop  elect.  ...  Be  this  as  it  may, 
Soule  suffered." 
10 


146  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

resolution  is  evident,  for  immediately  a  motion  to 
postpone  indefinitely  was  offered ;  but  before  the  ques- 
tion could  be  put  the  mover  withdrew  it  uncondition- 
ally. Nor  was  this  all.  Before  its  next  breath  was 
drawn  the  Conference  heard  a  motion  to  reconsider 
the  "presiding  elder  question,"  so  as  to  open  the  main 
question  to  a  new  vote.  Those  who  were  opposed  to 
the  election  of  presiding  elders,  but  who  for  the  sake 
of  peace  had  gone  into  a  compromise  movement,  now 
felt  released  from  the  compact  by  the  action  of  the 
other  side  in  going  into  a  secret  caucus.  But  though 
this  party  was  strong,  it  was  unable  to  force  a  vote 
on  the  proposition  to  reconsider,  nor  was  the  other 
side  able  to  secure  a  postponement.  The  debate  was 
waged  through  Wednesday  morning,  and  now  the  hour 
set  for  the  ordination  was  approaching.  Attention  was 
called  to  this  fact.  A  situation  existed  the  way  out 
of  which  the  most  astute  parliamentarian  in  the  house 
could  not  see.  "At  this  critical  juncture  the  manly 
dignity  of  Mr.  Soule  again  came  to  the  rescue."  "At 
five  minutes  before  eleven  o'clock,"  as  we  are  informed 
by  the  Journal,  "he  arose  and  expressed  the  wish  that 
the  General  Conference  should  by  vote  request  the 
episcopacy  to  delay  his  ordination  for  some  time." 
This  proper  and  courteous  request  was  not  formally 
granted,  but  the  debate  went  on  until  within  a  few 
minutes  of  the  noon  hour,  when  it  was  discovered  that 
the  house  was  without  a  quorum.  For  the  episcopacy 
Bishop  George  announced  that  the  ordination  had  been 
postponed,  and  the  Conference  adjourned  until  the 
afternoon. 

At  the  afternoon  session  the  vote  was  taken  on  the 


An  Effective  Protest.  147 

motion  to  reconsider  the  presiding  elder  question,  and 
resulted  in  a  tie.  The  ballot  was  repeated  with  a  sim- 
ilar result.  The  motion  was  therefore  lost,  and  the 
situation  was  tenser  than  before.  But,  as  the  Journal 
records,  Bishop  George  announced  that  the  ordination 
of  Mr.  Soule  would  take  place  at  twelve  o'clock  in  the 
Conference  room.  To  accept  ordination  to  the  episco- 
pacy under  these  conditions  was  impossible  to  Joshua 
Soule,  and  he  accordingly  and  without  delay  sub- 
mitted to  the  Conference  "a  communication  in  which 
he  stated  his  resignation  of  the  office  of  a  bishop 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  which  he  had 
been  elected."  This  communication  was,  on  motion, 
left  on  the  table.  The  ordination  ceremonies  were, 
of  course,  again  off,  and  the  Conference  took  up  the 
calendar. 

The  Conference  not  showing  a  disposition  to  call 
up  his  letter  of  resignation,  Mr.  Soule  at  the  after- 
noon session  asked  that  it  be  acted  upon.  A  motion 
requesting  him  to  withdraw  his  letter  of  resignation 
was  offered,  but  was  itself  withdrawn.  The  coura- 
geous stand  of  the  bishop  elect  further  impressed  the 
body,  friends  and  opponents.  The  delegates  desired 
time  to  study  the  new  development.  In  the  mean- 
time, to  make  his  position  still  clearer  to  the  bishops, 
whose  setting  of  a  second  hour  for  his  ordination  came 
as  a  surprise  to  him,  Mr.  Soule  addressed  to  the  epis- 
copacy the  following  letter : 

Bishops  McKendree,  George,  and  Roberts. 

Dear  Bishops:  The  course  which  I  have  pursued  in  present- 
ing my  resignation  to  the  Conference  may  savor  of  disrespect 
to  you,  and  therefore  needs  apology.     I  spent  the  night  in  a 


148  Life  of  Joshua  Soule, 

sleepless  manner,  and  could  not  prepare  the  communications 
which  I  designed  to  make  to  you  and  to  the  Conference  in 
time  to  see  you  until  after  Conference  hours.  Not  having  the 
least  intimation  or  idea  of  the  appointment  for  ordination  this 
morning,  my  intention  was  to  have  seen  you  together  immedi- 
ately after  the  morning  session  and  to  communicate  to  you 
first  my  resignation,  and  to  the  Conference  at  the  opening  of 
the  afternoon  session.  But  on  coming  to  the  Conference  I 
learned  that  the  ordination  was  notified  for  this  morning;  and 
in  order  to  prevent  improper  excitement  as  to  the  time  appoint- 
ed for  ordination,  I  presented  my  resignation  to  the  Conference 
when  I  did.  I  hope  you  will  not  pass  a  severe  censure  on  me 
until  you  shall  hear  the  reasons  which  have  led  to  this  measure. 

Yours  most  respectfully,  Joshua  Soule. 

May  25,  1820. 

The  tide  in  the  great  constitutional  contest  had  now 
reached  its  height,  and  during  the  adjournment  over- 
night perceptibly  turned.  The  ultimate  decisive  change 
was  expressed  in  a  motion  submitted  at  the  morning 
session  of  the  next  day,  as  follows:  "Moved  that 
the  rule  passed  at  this  Conference  respecting  the  nom- 
ination and  election  of  presiding  elders  be  suspended 
until  the  next  General  Conference,  and  that  the  Su- 
perintendents be  and  they  are  hereby  directed  to  act 
under  the  old  rule  respecting  the  appointment  of 
presiding  elders."  The  remainder  of  the  morning  aft- 
er the  appearance  of  this  motion  was  consumed  in 
parliamentary  maneuvers.  Indefinite  postponement 
was  asked  for  but  denied.  The  point  of  order  was 
then  raised  on  the  motion,  but  was  promptly  ruled 
against  by  the  President,  Bishop  Roberts.  An  ap- 
peal was  taken  to  the  house,  but  the  Chair  was  sus- 
tained. The  hour  of  adjournment  arriving,  the  busi- 
ness went  over. 


An  Effective  Protest.  149 

In  the  afternoon  session  a  spirited  debate  ensued, 
in  which  Nathan  Bangs  and  Elijah  Hedding  took  the 
leading  parts.  Another  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
made  to  indefinitely  postpone  the  motion  to  postpone 
the  presiding  eldership  rule.  The  motion  on  the  rule 
was,  however,  laid  temporarily  on  the  table,  that  the 
Conference  might  take  up  and  consider  Mr.  Soule's 
letter  of  declination.  Again  the  bishop  elect  was 
urged  to  withdraw  his  letter.  This  he  firmly  declined 
to  do,  and  it  will  be  easily  seen  that  this  final  decision 
was  logical  and  of  a  piece  with  the  whole  course  of 
his  action.  The  rule  was  still  in  force,  the  effort  to 
suspend  it  having  been  up  to  this  stage  unsuccessful. 
It  is  even  a  question  if  he  would  have  accepted  ordi- 
nation under  the  suspension  of  the  resolution. 

The  Journal  of  the  General  Conference  contains  a 
simple  statement  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Soule's  dec- 
lination was  accepted,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that 
such  a  motion  was  ever  put  to  the  Conference.  It 
was  a  release  by  consent.  The  firm  and  persevering 
course  of  the  chief  person  of  this  long-drawn  drama 
hastened  the  falling  of  the  curtain.  Almost  immedi- 
ately thereafter  the  main  question — the  proposition 
to  suspend  for  four  years  the  newly  enacted  rule  on 
the  presiding  eldership — was  put  to  the  house  and 
carried  by  a  substantial  majority,  forty-five  voting 
for  the  suspension  and  thirty-four  voting  against  it. 
From  this  time  forward  the  abortive  rule  was  des- 
tined to  be  known  as  the  "suspended  resolutions." 
They  had  a  long  history,  being  carried  by  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree  around  the  connection  during  the  succeeding 
quadrennium  for  the  judgment  of  the  Annual   Con- 


150  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

ferences  on  their  constitutionality  and  expediency. 
We  shall  meet  them  again  in  the  course  of  this  nar- 
rative. 

On  the  day  following  the  suspension  of  the  pre- 
siding elder  resolutions  a  movement  was  started  look- 
ing to  another  episcopal  election,  but  it  soon  became 
evident  that  no  other  result  than  the  reelection  of 
Soule  could  be  obtained.  This  result  his  opponents 
did  not  desire,  and  for  his  own  part  he  laid  upon  his 
friends  the  duty  of  preventing  it.  The  bishops,  after 
consulting  together,  reported  to  the  Conference  that 
they  would  be  able  without  reenforcement  to  superin- 
tend the  work  of  the  connection  for  another  quad- 
rennium,  and  thus  the  long  chapter  ended,  so  far  as 
it  concerned  the  General  Conference  of  1820. 

That  which  remains  to  Methodism  of  this  presiding 
eldership  contest  beyond  a  mere  historic  interest  is 
that  its  records  serve  as  criteria  by  which  to  test  the 
content  of  the  constitution  at  this  point — the  right  of 
the  bishops  to  appoint  the  preachers  to  their  stations, 
including  every  form  of  official  sendee  to  which  they 
may  be  called.  This  is  a  right  in  the  last  analysis, 
for  from  McKendree  down  the  bishops  have  been  ac- 
customed to  use  the  knowledge  and  discretion  of  the 
presiding  elders  as  their  own,  employing  their  ex- 
clusive right  to  make  appointments  only  where  they 
have  ample  or  superior  knowledge,  or  where  an  act 
of  primacy  in  parity  becomes  necessary.  Autocracy 
is  impossible  where  this  principle  (which  is  the  true 
constitutional  one  at  this  point)  is  observed.  That  it 
has  sometimes  been  disregarded  is  not  to  be  disputed, 
but  the  cases   in  which  a  bishop  has  thus  been   "in 


An  Effective  Protest.  151 

contempt  of  his  cabinet,"  to  use  an  episcopal  phrase, 
are  the  exceptions  to  a  rule  which  has  obtained  in 
Episcopal  Methodism  for  well-nigh  a  hundred  years. 

It  is  not  likely  that  this  question  will  ever  again 
seriously  recur  in  parliamentary  shape,  but  if  it  should 
there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  remembering  the  demand 
of  Bishop  McKendree  when  he  took  his  appeal  to  the 
Annual  Conferences :  Let  a  decision  come  in  a  consti- 
tutional way  from  the  Annual  Conferences;  let  them 
take  the  responsibility  of  declaring  constitutional  that 
which  so  plainly  runs  contrary  to  a  restrictive  rule, 
or  else  let  them  open  the  way  for  it  to  be  settled  in 
the  constitution  amongst  the  fundamentals.  The  de- 
mand, in  other  words,  was :  Change  the  constitution, 
and  do  it  in  the  constitutional  way.  Had  the  course 
of  the  advocates  of  the  new  rule  been  directed  toward 
securing  their  cause  in  the  terms  of  a  constitutional 
amendment,  the  mouth  of  Soule  had  been  closed,  and 
his  declination  of  the  honors  proffered  him  in  1820 
would  never  have  been  heard  of.  The  constitution 
can  amend  itself,  but  those  who  live  under  it  can  do 
nothing  contrary  to  it.  The  constitutional  path  lay 
open  to  the  electionists  in  1820.  But  the  constitution 
(there  was  the  rub !)  was  a  wall  too  high  to  be  scaled. 


CHAPTER   X. 

Doubly  Called. 

With  the  close  of  the  exciting  scenes  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1820,  Soule  returned  to  his  home 
in  New  York  City,  where  he  had  greatly  commended 
himself  to  the  local  laity,  and  where  as  a  preacher  he 
was  in  general  demand.  He  was  already  a  member 
of  the  New  York  Conference,  and  had  served  in  the 
last  General  Conference  as  a  delegate  from  that  body. 
The  rule  now  in  force  respecting  the  Conference  re- 
lations of  connectional  officers  had  not  then  been  es- 
tablished. When  elected  General  Book  Steward,  there- 
fore, his  transfer  from  New  England  to  New  York 
became  a  matter  of  course.  This  circumstance  proved 
eminently  satisfactory  in  the  end,  both  to  him  and  to 
the  local  Church  which  desired  his  services.  The 
New  York  Conference  met  on  June  1,  five  days  after 
the  adjournment  of  the  General  Conference,  and  so 
without  loss  of  time  he  stepped  again  into  the  pas- 
torate. 

The  almost  daily  experience  of  this  already  much- 
suffering  man  during  the  quadrennium  between  1820 
and  1824  was  connected  with  what  we  shall  now  uni- 
formly know  as  the  "suspended  resolutions."  He  had 
wished  to  retire  to  a  pastorate  and  the  quiet  life  of 
his  own  family  circle,  and  there  live  disentangled  from 
the  discussions  and  involvements  which  he  foresaw 
must  follow  the  effort  to  dispose  of  these  resolutions. 
In  a  letter  written  to  a  friend — a  friend  not  identified, 

(152) 


Doubly  Called.  153 

but  a  leader,  as  it  would  appear,  in  one  of  the 
stronger  Conferences — shortly  after  his  return  to  New 
York  City  this  wish  is  ardently  expressed.  The  letter, 
which,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  has  never  been  pub- 
lished, is  now  dim  and  hangs  together  in  shreds  and 
fragments,  but  the  chirography  is  unmistakable.  From 
such  parts  of  it  as  can  be  read  I  make  these  extracts : 

Hitherto  the  merits  of  this  question  have  been  tested  only 
at  the  tribunal  of  the  General  Conference  and  almost  ex- 
clusively with  reference  to  the  ministry.  It  may  be  justly 
doubted  whether  those  who  have  advocated  a  change  have 
any  proper  assurance  that  the  membership  of  the  Church 
would  approve  of  such  a  change.  That  the  question  is  of 
vital  importance  to  the  whole  body  I  need  not  attempt  to 
prove.     .     .     . 

My  habits  of  thinking  had  associated  with  the  episcopacy 
the  prosperity  of  the  work  of  God  in  general  and  the  dearest 
interests  of  the  Church,  and  with  the  character  of  the  bish- 
ops I  had  identified  that  of  the  whole  body.     .     .     . 

My  principles  of  action  were  fixed;  there  was  no  reserve 
when  I  decided.  Hope,  which  had  so  long  hovered  round  the 
shades  of  solitude,  gave  up  the  delightful  scenes,  and  every 
anticipation  of  enjoyment  in  my  long-desired  retreat  met  at 
once  a  hopeless  grave.  I  had  cast  my  eyes  over  a  rising 
family,  to  which  my  affection  was  strongly  attached,  and  had 
virtually  submitted  them  to  the  disposal  of  providence  and 
the  care  and  protection  of  the  Church.  I  had  taken  into  ac- 
count the  arduous  work  which  lay  before  me — the  privations, 
and  sufferings  inseparable  from  the  office.     .     .     . 

It  verily  appeared  to  me  that  jealousy,  suspicion,  and  con- 
tention would  be  the  legitimate  posterity  of  those  resolutions. 
Every  view  of  the  subject  rendered  my  own  situation  more 
and  more  critical.  How  to  sustain  the  character  of  Christian 
humility  and  manifest  a  suitable  deference  to  the  judgment 
of  so  large  a  majority  of  the  General  Conference,  some  mem- 
bers of  which  were  ministers  of  the  gospel  when   I  was   in 


154  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

or  near  the  cradle,  and  at  the  same  time  to  appear  in  the 
light  of  that  noble  independence  which  I  have  ever  valued 
as  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  the  human  mind  was  a 
matter  of  no  ordinary  difficulty.     .     .     . 

It  was  well  understood,  as  far  as  I  was  known,  that  I  was 
decidedly  in  favor  of  the  old  plan  and  wished  to  preserve 
the  executive  authority  in  the  hands  of  the  general  superin- 
tendents, where  the  General  Conference  and  the  constitu- 
tion had  deposited  it.  I  had  defended  it  publicly  and  privately. 
.  .  .  There  was  nothing  equivocal,  nothing  concealed.  Un- 
der these  circumstances  my  election  obtained.  No  attempt 
was  made  to  alter  the  government,  nor  any  intimation  given 
of  an  attempt  to  do  so,  so  far  as  I  know,  until  after  the 
election.  ...  A  course  of  silence  and  submission  on  my 
part  would  have  demonstrated  that  I  was  unworthy  the  con- 
fidence which  had  been  reposed  in  me.  It  might  have  been 
said  with  just  inference,  and  in  direct  reference  to  me,  that 
"the  honor  of  a  miter  will  damp  the  zeal  of  sentiment." 

Some  observations  may  be  made  on  this  letter. 
For  the  first  part,  it  shows  that  Soule  had  great  re- 
spect for  the  laity  of  the  Church,  and  early  deferred 
to  the  voice  of  the  Church's  general  membership.  He 
was  a  strong  constitutionalist,  but  he  recognized  that 
the  constitution  was  a  guarantee  to  the  laymen  as  well 
as  to  the  clergy.  He  logically  concluded  that  the 
laity  would  prefer  the  old  rule  to  the  new.  Again, 
this  letter  shows  that  he  had  carefully  counted  the 
cost  of  being  a  Methodist  bishop.  He  had  in  antici- 
pation of  service  in  the  office  put  comfort,  ease,  family, 
and  life  on  the  altar  of  acceptance.  He  had  deter- 
mined to  be  that  servant  of  all  whom  his  Master  had 
called. 

He  showed  that  he  had  a  lofty  ideal  of  the  epis- 
copacy— its  work,  its  singleness  of  purpose,  and  its 


Doubly  Called.  155 

identification  with  the  character  and  work  of  the 
Church.  He  at  last  makes  it  clear  that  he  had  weighed 
duty  and  ambition  together  and  had  chosen  duty — 
duty  from  which  even  the  enticements  of  a  miter 
could  not  swerve  him. 

Bishop  McKendree,  it  will  be  remembered,  deter- 
mined to  appeal  to  the  Annual  Conferences  to  pass  on 
the  suspended  resolutions  before  another  General  Con- 
ference should  sit.  This,  as  it  proved,  was  a  wise 
and  statesmanlike  course.  For  it  he  had  a  conspicuous 
precedent.  In  1809  he  and  Bishop  Asbury,  as  gen- 
eral superintendents,  formed  the  Genesee  Conference. 
Against  this  act  there  was  an  outcry,  it  being  freely 
charged  that  there  was  no  authority  therefor.  As  an 
answer  to  this  charge  the  bishops  immediately  laid 
the  matter  before  the  Annual  Conferences,  and  the 
challenged  act  of  episcopal  administration  was  ap- 
proved. With  this  record  of  instruction  from  the  body 
of  the  preachers,  the  General  Conference  accepted  the 
Genesee  Conference  as  having  been  legally  organized, 
though  it  thereupon  declared  that  the  authority  to 
organize  new  Conferences  should  thereafter  rest  only 
with  the  legislative  body. 

In  his  plan  for  dealing  with  the  suspended  resolu- 
tions the  senior  bishop  was  not  seconded  by  a  large 
party.  The  extreme  electionists  were  unfriendly  to 
the  idea,  being  unwilling  to  even  raise  the  question  of 
legality.  The  friends  of  the  old  rule  looked  generally 
with  disfavor  upon  it,  because  they  hoped  to  see  the 
objectionable  novelty  circumvented  without  exposing 
the  constitution  to  the  invasion  of  a  weakening  ele- 
ment.    Joshua  Soule,  who  was  closer  to  McKendree 


156  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

than  any  other  living  man,  was  doubtful  of  the  wis- 
dom of  the  appeal.  His  deathless  devotion  to  the  con- 
stitution made  it  difficult  for  him  to  consider  the  pos- 
sibility, after  so  much  sacrifice,  of  opening  a  way  into 
the  fundamental  law  of  the  Church  for  the  disruptive 
measure. 

In  a  letter  dated  February  27,  182 1,  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree  fully  disclosed  to  Soule  his  plan  of  proced- 
ure. 'The  course  I  took  at  the  last  General  Confer- 
ence," he  wrote,  "respecting  the  suspended  resolutions 
— to  lay  the  subject  before  the  Annual  Conferences — 
must  be  carried  out.  ...  I  expect  to  begin  at 
the  next  Ohio  Conference  and  so  go  through  the  Con- 
ferences. I  design  to  lay  the  subject  so  before  them 
as  to  set  them  completely  at  liberty,  so  far  as  respects 
me,  as  to  authorize  the  adoption,  and  thus  put  an  end 
to  strife,  if  this  will  do  it,  and  thereby  give  additional 
strength  to  the  constitution,  which  will  guard  us 
against  infringements  for  the  future.  ...  I  de- 
sire, dear  brother,  to  hear  from  you.  Please  write 
fully  and  sentimentally." 

To  this  affectionate  and  confidential  request  Mr. 
Soule  wrote  at  considerable  length  and  in  a  thorough- 
ly characteristic  style.  This  letter  must  stand  not  only 
as  a  dignified  utterance  between  two  great  souls  in 
absolute  and  affectionate  confidence,  but  as  one  of 
the  masterly  state  papers  of  Methodism.  Dr.  Tigert 
printed  liberal  extracts  from  this  document  in  his 
"History  of  Constitutional  Methodism."  As  the  orig- 
inal is  before  me  and  should  be  preserved,  I  give  it 
entire  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  subject  in  hand.  It 
is  as  follows : 


Doubly  Called.  157 

Dear  Bishop:  I  have  received  three  letters  from  you  since 
I  wrote,  which  certainly  requires  apology  on  my  part.  When 
I  was  in  Baltimore  I  should  have  answered  your  first,  but 
knew  not  where  to  direct;  and  then  you  suggested  a  doubt 
as  to  whether  you  should  reach  Baltimore.  Your  second, 
which  I  received  about  a  week  ago,  gave  me  directions  rela- 
tive to  your  intended  course  and  where  I  might  meet  you. 
I  was  investigating  the  weighty  subjects  of  your  letters  pre- 
paratory to  an  answer  when  your  third  came  to  hand  yester- 
day by  Brother  Ryland.  I  am  too  deeply  employed  at  this 
moment  in  the  important  business  of  our  missionary  society, 
preparatory  to  the  anniversary  which  meets  to-morrow  even- 
ing, to  enter  at  any  considerable  length  into  the  interesting 
subject  proposed  in  your  communications. 

On  proposing  and  recommending  to  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences the  adoption  of  the  suspended  resolutions  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  I  have  my  doubts  and  fears.  I  am  decidedly 
of  your  opinion,  that,  although  the  resolutions  are  no  im- 
provement of  our  system,  but  rather  tend  to  enfeeble  its 
energies,  yet,  if  no  further  encroachments  are  made  upon  the 
executive  authority,  the  government  may  be  administered 
under  the  provisions  of  those  resolutions.  And  if  I  had  any 
sufficient  security  that  the  adoption  of  those  resolutions  in 
constitutional  order  would  be  the  means  of  reconciliation 
and  lay  the  foundation  for  a  permanent  peace,  I  would  cor- 
dially recommend  them  for  such  adoption.  But  it  is  impos- 
sible for  me  to  conceive  that  those  brethren  who  for  so  many 
years  have  contested  the  radical  principles  of  the  government 
will  rest  satisfied  while  the  essential  features  of  episcopacy 
remain.  And  I  am  fully  pursuaded  that  one  change  will  be 
urged  as  a  ground,  plead  as  a  precedent,  and  used  as  an  aux- 
iliary to  promote  another.  If  the  course  which  you  propose 
is  pursued,  it  follows  that  each  Conference  must  act,  in  rec- 
ommending the  adoption  of  the  resolutions,  upon  the  ground 
that  they  are  unconstitutional.  I  think  it  is  a  fair  presumption 
that  some  of  the  Conferences  will  not  act  on  this  ground. 
But  my  principal  fears  are  the  effect  which  the  measure  may 
have  on  the  membership.     The  measures  of  the  last  General 


158  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

Conference  have  given  man}'  of  our  people  great  alarm. 
From  the  time  the  constitution  was  formed,  in  which  the 
character  of  the  government  was  fixed  and  the  rights  of  the 
members,  private  and  official,  secured,  all  seem  to  have  set- 
tled down  in  peace  and  quietude  and  confidence.  It  seemed 
like  the  return  of  a  calm  after  a  storm,  and  general  joy  pre- 
vailed under  the  conviction  that  we  had  arrived  to  that  per- 
manent state  of  things  in  which  all  might  rest.  No  alteration 
of  the  government  was  expected  or  desired,  nor  did  an  ap- 
prehension prevail  that  any  new  burdens  would  be  imposed 
or  terms  of  communion  established.  Under  these  assurances, 
what  must  have  been  the  surprise  when  the  proceedings  of 
the  General  Conference  were  made  public?  A  transfer  of 
important  and  long-established  prerogatives  from  one  official 
department  to  another,  and  even  doubts  suggested  as  to  the 
validity  of  the  constitution  itself!  From  this  view  of  the 
subject  I  am  fully  convinced  that  the  resolutions  can  never 
go  into  operation  with  safety  to  the  peace  of  the  Church  on 
any  other  ground  but  that  which  you  propose ;  and,  all  things 
considered,  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  your  course  is  the  best 
and  safest  which  can  be  pursued.  If  I  do  not  see  you  in 
New  York,  I  will  avail  myself  of  the  earliest  opportunity 
after  our  Conference  to  communicate  more  fully  on  the  subject. 

In  a  later  section  of  this  chapter  I  shall  take  note 
of  the  results  obtained  by  the  venerable  senior  bishop 
in  his  Annual  Conference  referendum  on  the  "sus- 
pended resolutions." 

At  the  moment  when  Bishop  McKendree,  with  his 
own  and  Bishop  Elect  Soule's  letters  in  his  hand,  came 
before  the  General  Conference  of  1820  to  protest 
against  the  threatened  unconstitutional  action  of  the 
electionists,  he  started  an  issue  which,  after  decades  of 
discussion  and  waiting,  crystallized  into  the  veto  pro- 
vision as  it  now  exists  in  the  constitution  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South.    A  reference  to  the  evo- 


Doubly  Called.  159 

lutional  course  of  this  veto  proviso  is  pertinent  to  this 
story,  because  Bishop  Soule  sustained  to  it  not  only  the 
relation  of  expressed  sympathy,  but  gave  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  its  merits  and  claims  some  of  his  best 
thought  and  most  industrious  efforts.  The  General 
Conference,  as  a  result  of  Bishop  McKendree's  pro- 
test and  Mr.  Soule's  declination  of  episcopal  ordina- 
tion, recommended  to  the  Annual  Conferences  to  au- 
thorize a  constitutional  measure  whereby  the  bishops 
could  veto  any  act  of  the  General  Conference  which 
they  believed  to  be  an  infringement  of  the  constitu- 
tion ;  nevertheless,  the  General  Conference  was  to  be 
permitted  to  override  this  veto  if  it  could  muster  a 
two-thirds  vote  in  rejoinder.  The  Conferences  failed 
to  authorize  this  provision.  But  largely  through  the 
efforts  of  Soule  and  McKendree  a  similar  measure 
was,  in  1824,  proposed  to  the  Annual  Conferences  for 
ratification.  Only  in  this  case  it  was  provided  that,  if 
the  General  Conference  persisted  in  the  face  of  an 
episcopal  veto,  the  measure  was  to  go  to  the  Annual 
Conferences  for  final  determination.  Thus  were  the 
Conferences  and  the  episcopacy  to  share  the  veto 
power.  The  principle  involved  in  this  was  plain — 
namely,  the  General  Conference  cannot  be  the  judge 
of  the  constitutionality  of  its  own  acts.  This  was  the 
doctrine  of  McKendree  and  Soule.  In  this  last  shape 
the  measure  went  to  the  Annual  Conferences  between 
1824  and  1828,  failing  of  ratification.  But  in  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  which  met  in  1870  the  principle  was 
again  initiated,  was  subsequently  ratified,  and  is  now, 
as    before    indicated,    imbedded    in    the    constitution. 


160  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Could  Bishop  Soule  have  lived  but  four  years  longer, 
he  should  have  seen  one  of  his  early  ideals  realized 
amongst  the  institutions  of  Methodism  in  the  beloved 
land  of  his  adoption. 

To  those  who  are  proved  great  and  generous  fall 
multiplied  responsibilities,  and  to  those  who  shun  a 
grace  in  bearing  burdens  shall  burdens  be  added. 
During  the  two  years  of  Joshua  Soule's  pastorate  in 
New  York  City  a  variety  of  harassing  but  not  unex- 
pected disturbances  arose  in  the  Churches  contained  in 
the  station  or  city  circuit.  The  first  in  order  of  these 
was  probably  the  agitation  which  was  begun  amongst 
the  colored  members  for  an  independent  organization. 
As  these  people  were  weak  and  their  church  buildings 
greatly  embarrassed  with  debt,  Soule  strove  earnest- 
ly to  reconcile  them  to  remaining  with  their  white 
brethren.  His  efforts  possibly  delayed  the  movement 
of  separation,  but  in  the  latter. part  of  1820  the  Zion 
Colored  Church  declared  its  independence.  In  this 
course  it  was  soon  followed  by  the  other  congrega- 
tions of  colored  people  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn, 
and  in  1821,  at  a  conference  held  in  New  York  City, 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  was 
formed. 

But  there  was  made  another  and  more  serious 
breach  in  the  membership  by  revolutionary  white  lead- 
ers. Rev.  James  M.  Still  well,  one  of  the  preachers 
of  the  district,  stationed  for  the  year  at  a  suburban 
post  known  as  Zion  and  Asbury,  led  a  secession  of 
three  hundred  dissident  members  into  an  independent 
organization.  Writing  in  September  of  the  year 
(1820)  to  Bishop  McKendree  concerning  this  schism, 


Doubly  Called.  161 

Soule  says :  "You  will  doubtless  see  Bishop  George  in 
Baltimore  or  its  vicinity  and  receive  from  him  a  nar- 
rative of  the  disastrous  events  which  have  transpired 
in  this  station.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  several  hundred 
have  separated  themselves  from  the  fellowship  of  our 
Church,  established  an  independent  congregation,  em- 
bodied under  a  system  of  government  which  secures 
a  perfect  equality  of  right  and  power  to  every  mem- 
ber, male  and  female — properly  speaking,  an  ecclesi- 
astical democracy  in  the  most  extensive  sense  of  the 
word." 

True  to  his  student  and  publicist  habits,  Soule  in 
this  letter  enters  into  an  analysis  of  the  causes  of 
these  disturbances,  which  causes  in  their  incipiency 
went  back  several  years.  He  had  observed  to  Bishop 
McKendree  at  the  time  of  his  first  settlement  in  New 
York  as  Book  Steward  "that  serious  and  very  un- 
pleasant results  await  us  in  this  city."  He  heard 
irresponsible  mutterings  against  Church  administra- 
tions. From  discontented  preachers  the  spirit  of  dis- 
loyalty had  sifted  into  the  thoughts  of  the  laity,  large 
numbers  of  whom  had  rebelled  against  almost  every 
form  of  discipline.  As  a  consequence,  the  prosperity 
of  the  societies  had  been  threatened.  Thus  matters 
stood  when  reports  came  from  Baltimore  touching  the 
debates  on  the  presiding  eldership  and  the  action  sus- 
pending the  resolutions.  There  was  more  or  less 
strife  and  contention  everywhere.  It  separated  friends 
and  estranged  brethren  who  had  before  lived  in  close 
confidence.  It  burst  like  a  storm  over  the  head  of  the 
venerable  senior  bishop;  even  he  could  not  be  spared. 
The  Methodism  of  the  metropolis  became  the  low- 
ii 


1 62  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

pressure  center  of  the  ecclesiastical  barometer.  Al- 
though Soule  was  so  cordially  welcomed,  the  disaf- 
fected partisans  in  the  local  societies  took  advantage 
of  a  prejudice  against  him  to  foment  and  effect  dis- 
union. 

In  response  to  a  call  from  Soule,  Bishop  McKen- 
dree  in  182 1  made  a  visit  to  New  York,  and  the  two 
together  succeeded  in  largely  allaying  the  feverish 
discontent  which  had  been  engendered  by  the  after- 
math of  General  Conference  debates.  It  is  likely  that 
after  the  painful  blood-letting  which  the  New  York 
societies  involuntarily  submitted  to,  they  enjoyed  a 
surer  prosperity  and  that  a  more  certain  peace  settled 
upon  them,  This  is  borne  out  by  a  statement  found 
in  Dr.  Bangs's  "History,"  in  which  he  says:  "There 
was  also  a  good  work  (in  1822)  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  about  three  hundred  being  added  to  the  Church. 
This  was  encouraging  to  those  who  had  mourned  over 
the  departure  of  so  many  two  years  before."  The 
revival  which  brought  this  large  and  fresh  ingathering 
occurred  near  the  close  of  Soule's  second  year  in  the 
city.  That  year  he  had  for  one  of  his  colleagues  in 
the  station  the  seraphic  John  Summerfield,  a  native 
of  England,  whose  fame  for  eloquence  and  power  in 
preaching  was  soon  to  spread  almost  as  widely  as  had 
that  of  Whitefield,  but  which  was  not  to  endure  so  long. 
His  brilliant  career  ended  in  death  in  1825. 

Ecclesiastical  "giraffing"  was  unknown  to  the  Meth- 
odism of  the  early  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
There  was  too  nearly  a  parity  of  station  to  permit  of 
self-  or  place-seeking  on  a  large  scale.  In  those  days 
it  was  the  transfer  who  was  commiserated.     Now  it 


Doubly  Called.  163 

is  too  often  the  case  that  success  is  measured  by  the 
ability  to  become  a  "shooting  star."  Unsolicited  ne- 
cessity made  Joshua  Soule  a  transfer  in  1816.  In 
1822  the  same  necessity  came  upon  him — he  was 
episcopally  ordered  to  Baltimore.  Of  this  he  informed 
Bishop  McKenlree  in  a  letter  written  some  time  in  the 
spring  of  that  year.  "You  were  apprised,"  he  writes, 
"that  I  had  received  instructions  from  Bishop  George 
to  remove  to  the  Baltimore  Conference  at  its  next 
session.  No  appointment  could  please  me  better,  and 
such  removal  I  contemplate  with  the  highest  satisfac- 
tion. But  if  I  have  not  communicated  the  same  in 
substance  before,  I  desire  that  it  may  be  explicitly  un- 
derstood by  you  and  Bishop  George  that  I  make  no 
claim  by  virtue  of  those  instructions,  and  hold  myself 
in  constant  readiness  to  serve  in  any  section  of  the 
work  which  may  be  considered  most  conducive  to  the 
general  good.  I  say  this  that  both  yourself  and  Bishop 
George  may  feel  at  perfect  liberty  with  respect  to  my 
future  sphere  of  labor,  any  previous  instructions  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanling." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  that  the  man  who 
could  thus  absolutely  submit  himself  "as  a  son  in  the 
gospel"  to  authority  and  direction  could  in  the  same 
spirit  of  loyalty  put  aside  "the  honor  of  a  miter." 
What  is  more,  the  final  defeat  of  a  man  of  that  stamp 
and  spirit  is  to  be  written  amongst  the  things  that 
heaven  has  made  impossible. 

In  the  Baltimore  Conference  Soule  assumed  an  atti- 
tude of  great  caution,  and  all  but  declined  to  discuss 
current  issues  in  the  Church.  Devoting  himself  to 
his  pastoral   duties,   he  left  outside   matters   to   take 


164  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

their  course.  The  leader  to  whom  it  is  given  to  deter- 
mine the  destinies  of  men  is  not  a  gossip  nor  a  brawl- 
er. He  speaks,  on  occasion,  fitting  words  for  strength, 
conviction,  and  seasonableness,  and  is  then  silent  until 
occasion  again  makes  utterance  imperative.  During 
the  year  1823  a  rumor  gained  currency  that,  on  ac- 
count of  the  tension  produced  by  the  pendency  of  the 
"suspended  resolutions,"  a  split  in  the  Church  was  im- 
minent. Bishop  George  shared  the  fear  expressed  by 
many.  Henry  Smith,  a  member  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference, a  man  of  strength  and  prudence,  and  in  the 
previous  year  traveling  companion  to  Bishop  McKen- 
dree,  undertook  at  this  time  to  secure  expressions  of 
opinion  and  judgment  from  the  leading  preachers  of 
his  Conference.  He  of  course  addressed  his  inquiry 
to  Mr.  Soule,  but  in  his  reply,  as  Smith  reports,  "he 
was  cautious,  for  the  time  had  nearly  come  when  it 
might  be  said:  'Trust  ye  not  in  any  brother  in  Church 
government.' " 

But  Soule  was  not  to  be  left  to  the  enjoyment  and 
protection  of  his  self-imposed  silence.  Near  the  close 
of  his  second  year  of  service  in  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence a  paper  was  put  in  circulation  addressed  to  the 
members  of  that  body,  and  dealing  with  the  stalking 
pestilence  of  the  "suspended  resolutions."  The  author 
of  this  address  was  John  Emory,  the  framer  of  the 
"suspended  resolutions"  in  the  shape  in  which  they  had 
finally  been  passed  by  the  General  Conference.  In 
addition  to  the  name  of  Emory,  the  names  of  Albert 
Griffith,  Gerrard  Morgan,  and  Beverly  Waugh  were 
attached  to  this  address.  When  the  document  came 
into  the  hands  of  Soule,  he  saw  at  once  that  it  was 


Doubly  Called.  165 

meant  to  bring  into  question  his  own  motives  and  acts 
in  connection  with  the  incidents  of  1820.  I  have  been 
unable  to  find  a  copy  of  this  address  or  even  to  se- 
cure enough  information  concerning  it  to  make  a 
summary  of  its  charges  or  implications.  Dr.  Arm- 
strong, in  his  "History  of  the  Baltimore  Conference," 
does  not  even  refer  to  it ;  but  Dr.  (now  Bishop)  Denny, 
a  former  member  of  that  Conference  and  thoroughly 
familiar  with  its  history,  has  collated  all  the  facts. 
From  a  most  instructive  and  eloquent  sketch  of  the  life 
of  Bishop  Soule  from  his  pen  in  the  July,  1907,  number 
of  the  Methodist  Reviezv  I  quote  in  continuing  the 
history  of  this  incident: 

The  Baltimore  Conference  met  in  Winchester,  Va.,  April 
8,  1824,  Bishop  George  presiding.  There  were  eighty-two 
preachers  present,  an  unusually  large  number  for  that  time. 
On  the  first  day,  under  the  then  twelfth  question,  'Are  all 
the  preachers  blameless  in  life  and  conversation?"  the  name 
of  Soule  was  called.  Some  one  answered :  "Nothing  against 
him."  Instantly  Soule  was  on  his  feet,  and,  holding  up  the 
pamphlet  signed  by  Griffith,  Morgan,  Waugh,  and  Emory, 
said :  "Yes,  there  is."  He  would  not  allow  his  character  to 
pass  till  the  issue  raised  in  that  address  was  settled.  He, 
in  fact,  arrested  his  own  character.  He  declined  to  allow  it 
to  pass  till  the  writer  of  the  pamphlet  was  present.  The 
Minutes  show  that  "when  the  name  of  Joshua  Soule  was 
called,  at  his  own  request  his  case  was  laid  over."  On  the 
following  Thursday  it  was  taken  up,  "having  been  laid  over 
until  the  arrival  of  J.  Emory."  On  Friday  his  case  was  re- 
sumed, and  Soule  stated  that  "he  considered  his  character 
had  been  implicated  by  various  publications,  especially  by  a 
publication  signed  by  several  members  of  this  Conference." 
He  addressed  the  Conference  at  considerable  length,  and  was 
followed  by  Emory  in  reply.  Soule's  character  was  then 
passed.      From    another    source    it    is    learned    that    Soule's 


i66  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

speech  on  this  occasion  was  thrilling,  and  "so  triumphant  that 
the  parties  retracted  their  accusation  and  confessed  that  they 
had  done  him  an  injury." 

Rev.  Henry  Smith,  from  whom  I  have  already 
quoted,  and  who  is  very  freely  drawn  upon  by  Dr. 
Armstrong  in  his  "History  of  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence," gives  an  interesting  account  of  an  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  constitutionalists  to  take  snap  judg- 
ment on  their  antagonists  in  the  election  of  General 
Conference  delegates.  When  Smith  informed  Soule 
of  this  plan,  he  expressed  strong  disapproval  of  it. 
He  thought,  however,  that  a  meeting  might  be  held 
for  exchange  of  views  and  fixing  upon  men  to  repre- 
sent them  in  General  Conference.  He  nevertheless 
felt  that  it  would  be  "love's  labor  lost."  To  him  the 
outlook  was  distinctly  discouraging.  But  despite  the 
disfavor  with  which  Soule  regarded  the  proposed  meet- 
ing, it  (or  one  of  similar  character)  was  held.  The 
other  side  also  met  with  the  same  intent  and  purpose. 
The  result  of  the  elections  in  the  Conference  was 
that  "only  old  side  men  of  the  right  stamp"  were  se- 
lected. The  name  of  Joshua  Soule  appears  fourth  in 
the  list  of  thirteen  principal  delegates.  Not  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  anti-Soule  pamphlet  was  elected, 
though  at  least  three  of  them  were  amongst  the  lead- 
ing members  of  the  Conference,  and  two  of  them 
afterwards  became  bishops.  The  result  of  the  ballot 
caused  great  rejoicing  with  the  majority,  but  was  a 
bitter  mortification  to  the  electionists. 

The  Baltimore  Conference  at  this  session  enter- 
tained a  distinguished  guest,  Rev.  Richard  Reece,  the 
first  regularly  appointed  fraternal  delegate  from  the 


Doubly  Called.  167 

British  to  the  American  Conference.  He  had  ar- 
rived in  this  country  some  clays  before,  and  had  ac- 
cepted an  invitation  to  visit  this  sitting  of  the  oldest 
of  the  American  yearly  Conferences.  He  listened,  as 
Smith  informs  us,  to  a  debate  in  the  Conference  be- 
tween Soule  and  Emory  in  which  the  polemical  com- 
batants ''put  forth  all  their  strength." 

The  General  Conference  of  1824  was  now  but  a 
fortnight  away,  and  it  had  already  been  ascertained 
that  a  majority  of  the  delegates  chosen  were  opposed 
to  the  contemplated  alterations  in  the  government. 
And  what  had  been  the  result  of  Bishop  McKendree's 
appeal  to  the  Annual  Conferences?  This  appeal  or 
address,  which  has  been  characterized  as  "one  of  the 
most  important  documents  of  our  constitutional  his- 
tory," concludes,  in  part,  with  these  strong  words : 

From  the  preachers  collectively  both  the  General  Confer- 
ence and  General  Superintendents  derive  their  powers;  and 
to  the  Annual  Conferences  jointly  is  reserved  the  power  of 
recommending  a  change  in  our  constitution.  To  you,  there- 
fore, your  Superintendent  not  only  submits  the  case,  but  he 
would  advise  you  to  adopt  such  measures  as  you  in  your 
judgment  may  deem  most  prudent,  by  which  to  recognize 
the  adoption  of  the  change  proposed  in  the  resolutions,  con- 
formably to  the  provision  in  the  sixth  Article  of  the  consti- 
tution. Not  that  he  believes  the  change  would  be  an  im- 
provement of  our  system  of  government,  or  that  it  would  fully 
answer  the  expectations  of  its  advocates,  but  as  an  accom- 
modating measure,  on  the  utility  of  which  men  equally  wise 
and  good  may,  in  some  degree,  differ  in  opinion.  .  .  .  With 
your  recommendation  and  instructions,  your  representatives 
in  the  General  Conference  may  act  as  they  may  judge  most 
for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  his  Church.  Thus  in- 
troduced, the  case  would  commend  and  establish  the  consti- 
tution, and  form  an   effectual  barrier  against  any  future  in- 


1 68  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

fringement  of  the  bulwark  of  our  rights  and  liberties.  This 
advice  flows  neither  from  the  fear  of  frowns  nor  a  desire  of 
ease,  honor,  or  profit.  Let  me  be  anything  or  nothing  in  these 
respects,  so  the  work  of  the  Lord  may  prosper. 

This  address  being  submitted  to  each  of  the  Annual 
Conferences  in  turn,  beginning  with  the  Ohio  Confer- 
ence in  September,  1821,  the  following  result  was 
noted — namely:  Of  the  twelve  Annual  Conferences 
then  constituting  the  connection,  seven  "judged  the 
'suspended  resolutions'  unconstitutional,"  and  yet  au- 
thorized the  ensuing  General  Conference,  as  far  as  it 
could  do  so,  to  adopt  them  without  alteration;  "but 
the  other  five,"  to  continue  in  Bishop  McKendree's  own 
words,  "in  which  the  steady  friends  and  most  power- 
ful advocates  of  the  proposed  resolutions  were  found, 
refused  to  act  on  the  address."  Every  Southern  Con- 
ference except  the  Baltimore  declared  the  resolutions 
unconstitutional,  and  Baltimore  elected  a  solid  dele- 
gation of  "old-timers,"  including  one  of  its  newest 
transfers,  Joshua  Soule.  Thus  it  was  that  the  "fa- 
ther of  the  constitution,"  himself  a  Puritan,  became 
closely  identified  with  the  stock  and  the  ideals  of  the 
Cavaliers  and  Huguenots. 

Thus  I  have  rapidly,  and  also  with  as  much  fullness 
as  the  scope  of  this  work  permits,  traced  the  events  of 
a  most  turbulent  period  of  American  Methodist  his- 
tory as  these  events  relate  to  or  were  influenced  by 
the  words  and  actions  of  the  subject  of  my  sketch. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  pas- 
sages in  the  body  of  human  actions  in  general.  It 
now  only  remains  that  the  climacteric  touch  be  added 
to  round  the  chapter  to  its  proper  close.    The  General 


Doubly  Called.  169 

Conference  of  1824  sat  in  Baltimore,  its  opening  session 
falling  on  the  first  day  of  May.  On  Saturday,  May 
22,  as  the  Journal  shows,  D.  Young  introduced  the 
following  resolution — viz. : 

Whereas  a  majority  of  the  Annual  Conferences  have  judged 
the  resolutions  making  the  presiding  elders  elective,  and 
which  were  passed  and  then  suspended  at  the  last  General 
Conference,  unconstitutional;  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  said  resolutions  are  not  of  authority, 
and  shall  not  be  carried  into  effect. 

On  Monday,  May  24,  the  motion  being  called  up 
for  final  disposition,  the  vote  was  taken  by  ballot,  with 
the  result  that  sixty-three  members  voted  affirmative- 
ly and  sixty-one  negatively.  The  verdict  of  the  An- 
nual Conferences  against  the  suspended  resolutions 
was  thus  completed  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  general 
body.  We  may  so  far  anticipate  as  to  say  that  this 
General  Conference  having  referred  the  suspended 
resolutions  to  the  General  Conference  of  1828  as  un- 
finished business,  that  body  finally  disposing  of  them  by 
declaring  that  they  were  "rescinded  and  made  void." 

His  friends  having  with  his  own  invaluable  aid  won 
a  complete  constitutional  victory  on  the  point  so  long 
at  issue,  the  way  was  now  open  for  Joshua  Soule  to 
accept  ordination  as  a  Methodist  bishop.  He  could 
now  wear  the  "miter"  with  "honor."  Accordingly,  on 
May  26,  1824,  the  election  being  called,  on  the  second 
ballot  he  received  sixty-five  out  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  votes,  and  was  declared  elected. 

Doubly  called  of  his  brethren,  he  entered  upon  an 
episcopate  that  was  to  extend  through  forty-three 
eventful  and  laborious  years. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Four  Times  Four. 

Although  the  principles,  fitness,  and  personal  for- 
tunes of  Joshua  Soule  had  triumphed,  and  the  position 
he  now  occupied  and  the  recognition  he  now  enjoyed 
were  such  as  any  man  of  consecration  and  honor 
might  covet,  he  had  yet  before  him  a  season — an  age, 
as  the  sensitive  soul  measures  such  things — in  which 
he  was  to  feel  the  attritions  of  prejudice  and  contend 
with  the  jealousies  of  men  both  small  and  great. 
Slowly  and  surely,  however,  partisan  and  personal 
oppositions  gave  way  before  a  self-mastered  spirit 
and  the  consecration  of  a  saintly  walk.  When  four 
times  four — the  years  of  four  quadrenniums  or  Meth- 
odist olympiads — had  passed  over  his  head,  he  stood 
forth  not  only  with  ripened  powers  and  catholic  sen- 
sibilities, but  with  an  official  and  personal  influence 
rarely  attained  even  in  the  great  office  of  the  Metho- 
dist episcopacy.  To  trace  as  definitely  and  as  fully 
as  we  may  the  events  which  concern  his  life  story 
during  those  sixteen  years  is  to  be  our  business  in  the 
present  chapter. 

There  were  now  five  Methodist  bishops,  the  great- 
est number  the  connection  had  ever  had  at  one  time. 
The  fifth  member  of  the  college,  Elijah  Hedding,  was 
elected  on  the  fourth  ballot  at  the  time  of  the  second 
election  of  Joshua  Soule.  He  was  a  native  of  New 
York,  but  had  given  the  most  of  his  life  to  New  En- 
(170) 


Four  Times  Four.  171 

gland.  He  is  described  as  being  a  large  and  venerable- 
looking  man.  He  was  much  revered  for  his  wisdom, 
piety,  and  fidelity  to  duty.  As  a  bishop  he  was  popu- 
lar, and  lived  and  died  in  great  honor. 

Since  there  were  now  in  office  four  effective  general 
superintendents,  it  was  understood  that  Bishop  Mc- 
Kendree  was  to  be  released  from  the  responsibility  of 
attending  the  Annual  Conferences  or  taking  up  any 
episcopal  duty  except  such  as  his  health  might  com- 
fortably or  safely  permit.  The  four  effective  bishops 
divided  the  work  of  the  connection  amongst  them  in 
this  way:  Bishops  George  and  Hedding  took  the  East- 
ern and  Northern  Conferences,  while  to  Bishops  Rob- 
erts and  Soule  were  assigned  the  Southern  and  West- 
ern sittings.  After  two  years  the  order  of  this  plan 
was  to  be  reversed. 

The  first  episcopal  labors  of  Bishop  Soule  were  to 
be  given  to  the  Conferences  in  the  West.  For  this 
and  other  reasons  he  resolved  to  make  his  home  in  the 
State  of  Ohio.  In  the  summer  following  the  General 
Conference  of  1824,  with  his  family,  and  accompa- 
nied by  Bishop  McKendree  and  his  traveling  compan- 
ion, Rev.  J.  B.  Crist,  he  started  for  his  new  home 
and  the  scenes  of  his  new  labors.  Numerous  halts 
were  made  on  the  long  journey,  and  the  two  bishops 
took  turns  at  preaching  to  large  and  eager  congre- 
gations gathered  to  hear  them.  The  particular  ob- 
ject of  the  senior  bishop  in  making  the  journey  was 
to  visit  and  inspect  the  Wyandotte  Indian  Missions 
which  had  been  established  by  him  in  the  States  of 
Ohio  and  Indiana.  Together  the  bishops  visited  the 
settlements  of  the  Indians,  and  were  surprised  and  de- 


172  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

lighted  at  the  progress  of  the  gospel  amongst  them. 
Bishop  Soule  preached  to  the  tribe  through  an  inter- 
preter, and  was  so  much  impressed  by  the  vision  of 
those  strangely  inquiring  faces  upturned  to  him  under 
the  leaves  of  the  summer  forests  that  a  memory  of  it 
lingered  with  him  through  his  after  life. 

Bishop  Roberts  joined  the  episcopal  party  at  the 
session  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  from  there  the 
three  went  to  the  session  of  the  Kentucky  Conference 
at  Shelbyville.  After  this  Bishops  McKendree  and 
Soule  rode  together  to  the  seat  of  the  Missouri  Con- 
ference at  Padfields,  in  Illinois.  From  that  pioneer 
outpost  they  turned  on  their  track  and  met  the  Ten- 
nessee Conference  at  Columbia.  Winter  having  come 
on,  and  Bishop  McKendree  being  extremely  feeble, 
he  turned  in  for  a  season  of  rest  in  the  home  of  his 
brother,  Dr.  James  McKendree,  in  Sumner  County; 
while  Bishop  Soule,  leaving  him  there,  rode  away  to 
the  seat  of  the  Mississippi  Conference  at  Tuscaloosa, 
Ala.  As  was  the  rule,  Bishops  Soule  and  Roberts  pre- 
sided jointly  at  this  Conference.  In  the  "History  of 
Methodism  in  Mississippi,"  by  Rev.  John  G.  Jones, 
this  brief  sketch  of  the  two  superintendents  is  given : 

Bishop  Soule  was  the  embodiment  of  episcopal  dignity,  and 
seldom  if  ever  indulged  in  anything  like  humor  in  connection 
with  the  business  of  an  Annual  Conference.  Bishop  Roberts 
was  smartly  spiced  with  innocent  and  useful  wit  and  humor, 
and  often  in  this  way  poured  oil  on  the  troubled  waters  of 
an  earnest  debate  or  relieved  the  embarrassed  feelings  of  some 
timid  speaker. 

At  the  South  Carolina,  the  Virginia,  and  the  North 
Carolina   Conferences   the   new   bishop   was   amongst 


Four  Times  Four.  173 

close  friends  and  men  who  ardently  sympathized  with 
his  sacrifices  and  renunciations  of  previous  years. 
Whether  or  not  the  knowledge  of  these  affinities  was 
a  determinative  in  settling  the  arrangements  of  the 
bishops  for  the  first  two  years  of  the  quadrennium 
cannot  now  be  determined ;  but  however  that  may  be, 
Joshua  Soule  found  himself  with  his  own.  In  the 
bosom  of  this  fellowship  he  lingered  and  was  rested 
from  the  weariness  of  his  protracted  labors. 

The  presidency  in  the  early  days  of  April  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference  completed  his  first  round.  Dr. 
Armstrong  in  the  "History  of  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence," referring  to  this  visit,  says: 

Seventy-nine  preachers  assembled  in  Baltimore  on  April 
6,  1825,  under  the  presidency  of  Bishop  Soule.  .  .  .  The 
action  of  the  preceding  General  Conference  appears  to  have 
produced  a  lull  in  the  agitation  of  controverted  questions. 
It  was  the  calm,  however,  before  the  storm. 

This  quadrennium  was  destined  to  be  an  era  of 
radicalism  and  of  extravagant  demands  by  the  laity 
and  local  preachers.  Moved  by  the  debates  over  the 
suspended  resolutions,  the  latter  began  to  clamor  for 
an  increased  share  in  the  government  of  the  Church. 
The  center  of  this  activity  was  Baltimore,  where  a  pe- 
riodical was  printed  and  where  sundry  conventions 
were  held.  From  the  view-point  of  to-day  those 
early  demands  of  the  laity  and  the  local  preachers 
were  not  essentially  unreasonable ;  they  have  all  since 
been  granted.  But  the  movement  for  change  was 
embodied  in  radicalism.  It  was  influenced  by  feelings 
of  prejudice  against  authority  as  constituted.  It  took 
no   account   of  the   laws   of  evolution  and  sequence. 


174  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Neither  was  it,  as  it  appears,  the  voice  of  the  major- 
ity, but  rather  the  confused  cry  of  a  faction,  the  al- 
ways dangerous  organ  of  radicalism. 

The  rather  remote  result  of  the  agitation  of  this 
era  was  the  organization,  in  1830,  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church,  a  healthy  and  happy  solution  of 
many  of  the  difficulties  which  had  been  created.  This 
body  of  Wesleyans  has  at  all  times  preached  a  sound 
gospel,  stood  in  defense  of  the  doctrines  of  Metho- 
dism, and  manifested  a  tolerant  and  catholic  spirit. 

The  presence  of  Joshua  Soule  in  the  episcopacy  at 
this  time  has  more  and  more  the  aspect  of  a  special 
providence.  Hedding  had,  it  is  freely  charged,  leaned 
toward  the  contentions  of  the  reformers,  as  the  rad- 
icals were  generally  called.  "Bishop  George,  in  ju- 
dicial weakness,  and  Bishop  Roberts,  by  amiable  ir- 
resolution, in  the  primary  movement  had  let  the  ship 
drive."  Neither  was  a  Church  statesman  and,  though 
both  were  admittedly  men  of  deep  piety  and  high 
character,  neither  had  any  genius  for  affairs.  Let  us 
suppose  that  in  the  face  of  the  conditions  prevailing 
a  radical  had  been  elected  to  the  episcopacy  in  1820; 
the  disastrous  consequences  can  hardly  be  imagined. 
There  would  have  been  no  declination  of  the  high 
office  of  superintendent,  and  of  course  no  other  official 
protest  against  the  resolutions  than  that  offered  by 
Bishop  McKendree.  As  a  consequence  the  radical 
resolutions  would  not  have  been  "suspended,"  but 
put  immediately  into  operation.  The  constitution,  be- 
ing once  breached,  would  likely  have  crumbled  before 
new  and  more  determined  attacks.  What  if  Soule 
had  not  found  that  one  necessarv  vote  on  the  second 


Four  Times  Four.  175 

ballot  in  1824?  An  anti-constitutionalist  had  gone 
into  office  in  his  stead,  and  McKendree,  in  feebleness 
extreme,  had  been  left  to  wage  the  contest  alone. 
That  Methodism  has  been  providentially  guided 
through  the  years  of  its  history  these  events  abun- 
dantly show.  In  the  study  of  these  events  the  Meth- 
odist churchman  of  the  present  day  may  gain  much 
profit. 

'  From  the  session  of  the  Baltimore  Conference  the 
weary  and  spirit-tried  Soule  slipped  away  to  his  home 
in  Ohio,  where  he  found  a  little  rest  until  his  labors 
with  the  Western  Conference  should  begin  anew. 

It  is  now  impossible,  as  it  would  be  to  a  degree  un- 
profitable, to  follow  the  horseback  advances  of  this 
early  nineteenth  century  bishop  through  his  extended 
see,  embracing  prairies,  mountains,  swamps,  pine  bar- 
rens, shorelands,  and  valleys.  It  was  the  old  track 
of  Asbury,  but  how  changed,  even  in  these  dozen 
years !  Interminable  links  of  meadows  and  farms, 
villages,  cities,  groaning  quays,  and  falling  forests 
marked  the  reaches  where  Asbury  met  silence  and  na- 
ture's unbroken  reign. 

A  noteworthy  incident  opens  the  narrative  for  the 
year  1826.  With  Bishop  McKendree,  Soule  presided 
over  the  Virginia  Conference  at  Portsmouth,  the  ses- 
sion beginning  February  15.  There  was  initiated  the 
movement  for  the  founding  of  a  high-grade  literary 
institution,  out  of  which  movement  grew  the  founda- 
tion of  the  present  Randolph-Macon  College.  With 
the  knowledge  that  most  of  our  Church  schools  and 
colleges  have  their  roots  so  deeply  set  in  our  history, 
it  is  surprising  to  hear  in  this  day  of  secular  ideals 


176  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

that  by  invoking  the  rule  of  Corban  they  may  be 
removed  from  the  Church's  life  and  authority. 

We  have  seen  how  dear  to  the  heart  of  Bishop 
Soule  was  the  memory  of  his  part  in  the  organization 
of  the  General  Missionary  Society.  On  May  15  the 
seventh  anniversary  of  the  society  was  observed  in  a 
service  in  historic  John  Street  Chapel.  In  this  meet- 
ing, presided  over  by  Bishop  McKendree,  Soule  and 
the  other  distinguished  founder,  Nathan  Bangs,  with 
Hedding,  Wilbur  Fisk,  and  Freeborn  Garrettson,  took 
part. 

The  unity  of  the  episcopacy  has  been  from  the  be- 
ginning a  cardinal  tenet  in  Methodist  polity.  Asbury 
and  Whatcoat,  and  then  Asbury  and  McKendree,  had 
lived  and  wrought  together  as  one  soul.  McKendree 
and  Soule  were  so  knit  together  in  thought  and  de- 
sire that  they  usually  made  one  utterance.  But  from 
the  beginning  McKendree  and  his  colleagues,  George 
and  Roberts,  and  particularly  the  former,  were  sel- 
dom able  to  see  eye  to  eye ;  nevertheless,  they  wrought 
together  as  yokefellows.  In  the  trying  times  now  on 
the  Church  the  necessity  for  a  singleness  of  purpose 
in  the  episcopacy  was  great.  To  effect  this  unity  it 
was  arranged  that  the  bishops  should  meet  yearly 
for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  whole  work,  agree- 
ing on  general  policies  and  discharging  such  duties 
as  required  their  joint  action.  The  first  of  these 
meetings  was  held  in  Philadelphia  April  13-18,  1826. 
Bishops  George  and  Hedding  were  at  the  time  pre- 
siding over  the  Philadelphia  Conference.  Bishops  Mc- 
Kendree and  Soule  came  up  from  the  South.  The 
minutes  of  the  meeting  show  that  Bishop  Roberts  was 


Four  Times  Four.  177 

absent.  The  bishops'  meeting  became  at  once,  and  has 
ever  since  continued  to  be,  an  important  function  of 
Church  administration. 

It  cannot  be  said,  however,  that  this  first  meeting 
of  the  bishops  accomplished  much  or  gave  great  prom- 
ise of  future  accord.  A  delegate  to  the  British  Con- 
ference was  to  be  elected,  but  on  a  suitable  person 
the  bishops  could  not  agree,  and  that  matter  had  to 
be  decided  by  the  next  General  Conference.  Also 
the  proposal  of  the  senior  bishop  for  Bishops  George 
and  Hedding  to  take  the  Western  and  Southern  Con- 
ferences, exchanging  with  Bishops  Roberts  and  Soule, 
was  declined  by  the  first  two.  Soule  therefore  con- 
tinued on  the  Southern  and  Western  circuit.  Not  for 
years  after  his  election  was  he  once  in  charge  of  the 
more  northern  and  New  England  Conferences,  and 
Hedding  remained  a  stranger  to  the  Methodists  of 
the  South.  Thus  early  did  the  lines  of  sectionalism 
begin  to  show.  Soule  became  a  Southerner  by  affilia- 
tion and  the  law  of  gravity. 

The  barbs  of  criticism  which  pricked  the  sensibili- 
ties of  the  silent  and  self-contained  ecclesiastic  were 
occasionally  transformed  into  the  sword  edge  of  a  de- 
termined judgment.  At  the  session  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina Conference  held  at  Augusta,  Georgia,  January  11, 
1827,  Bishop  Soule  preached  "a  very  popular  ser- 
mon" on  "The  Perfect  Law  of  Liberty,"  and  at  the 
request  of  the  Conference  the  same  was  printed.  Ever- 
watchful  eyes  were  following  his  daily  acts  and  words. 
It  soon  began  to  be  charged  in  a  more  or  less  public 
way  that  the  teaching  of  this  sermon  was  unsound  in 
some  of  its  main  points,  particularly  as  to  the  duty  of 
12 


178  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

Christians  to  observe  the  Sabbath.  The  names  of 
Wilbur  Fisk  and  John  Emory  were  prominently  con- 
nected with  these  charges,  and  it  has  been  frankly 
averred  that  their  purpose  was  to  remove  Soule  from 
the  episcopacy.  It  may  be  doubted  that  they  cher- 
ished so  extreme  a  purpose,  but  that  they  desired  to 
see  him  reprimanded  or  otherwise  seriously  disciplined 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  These  charges  gaining  cur- 
rency, the  Southern  and  Western  Conferences,  par- 
ticularly the  former,  came  to  the  Bishop's  defense  in 
a  determined  way.  The  South  Carolinians,  led  by  Dr. 
Capers,  threw  down  a  challenge  to  the  Bishop's  ac- 
cusers. The  Mississippi  Conference,  where  the  Bish- 
op presided  and  preached,  probably  repeating  the 
South  Carolina  discourse,  in  the  following  autumn 
gave  it  out  that  the  Bishop's  orthodoxy  went  without 
question.  At  the  General  Conference  the  matter  took 
shape  in  the  hands  of  his  critics.  A  member  of  the 
New  England  Conference  had  been  expelled  for  het- 
erodox teachings — teachings  not  different  from  those 
sought  to  be  fixed  upon  Soule.  The  expelled  New 
Englander  appealed  to  the  General  Conference.  The 
case  was  discussed  by  Fisk,  Emory,  and  others,  and  the 
brilliant  orations  of  Fisk  were  seen  by  Soule's  friends 
to  be  an  unconcealed  purpose  to  bring  the  sermon  of 
the  Bishop  before  an  inquisitorial  board  of  the  Con- 
ference. The  New  England  case  being  affirmed,  a 
resolution  was  offered  by  L.  McCoombs  and  T.  Mer- 
ritt  (the  latter  Soule's  old-time  colleague)  to  the  ef- 
fect that  the  General  Conference  go  at  once  into  an 
investigation  of  the  charge  of  heresy  brought  against 
the  Bishop. 


Four  Times  Four.  179 

In  the  meantime  Bishop  Soule,  still  keeping  silence, 
caused  printed  copies  of  his  discourse  to  be  laid  upon 
the  seats  of  the  delegates,  that  each  might  read  and 
judge  for  himself.  The  resolution  of  inquisition  be- 
ing referred  to  the  Committee  on  Episcopacy,  that 
committee  on  the  following  day  submitted  a  report 
entirely  exculpating  the  Bishop  from  the  charge  of 
heresy  or  of  teaching  any  doctrine  inconsistent  with 
the  Articles  of  Religion.  This  sermon,  which  was 
sought  in  those  exciting  days  to  be  relegated  to  the 
index  expurgatorius,  was  in  later  years  printed  in  full 
in  the  Methodist  Pulpit,  South,  a  classic  publication, 
now  an  heirlooom  in  many  a  Methodist  library. 

The  charges  sought  to  be  established  against  Bishop 
Soule's  orthodoxy  marked  the  highest  point  of  ex- 
citement and  party  contention  in  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1828.  Otherwise  it  was  a  conservative  body, 
and  its  proceedings  were  characterized  by  displays 
of  mutual  confidence,  brotherly  love,  and  unselfish 
consideration  for  the  interests  of  the  Church.  The 
"suspended  resolutions"  were  finally  disposed  of,  as  we 
have  seen.  The  demands  of  the  local  preachers  and 
laity  were  dealt  with  in  a  paper  written  by  John 
Emory  breathing  temperate,  kindly  sentiments,  but 
firmly  pointing  out  the  way  of  conciliation  and  agree- 
ment. The  General  Conference  was  sitting  in  Pitts- 
burg, Pennsylvania,  a  city  of  the  prophetic  West,  and 
in  that  fact  the  delegates  read  an  inspiring  pledge  for 
Methodism.     A  new  era  had  dawned. 

The  broad  and  tolerant  spirit  with  which  this  Con- 
ference began  and  closed  its  work  was  emphasized  in 
the  amicable  way  in  which  provision  was  made   for 


180  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

the  separation  into  a  new  jurisdiction  of  the  Confer- 
ence in  Canada.  This  action  had  a  historic  bearing 
on  the  great  "separation"  of  1844  and  on  the  attitude 
of  Bishop  Soule  in  that  crucial  time.  But  all  this 
will  be  discussed  in  a  later  and  more  pertinent  con- 
nection. 

In  the  summer  succeeding  the  General  Conference 
death  visited  the  ranks  of  the  episcopacy.  On  Au- 
gust 23,  while  sojourning  in  Staunton,  Va.,  Bishop 
George  expired  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age.  Bish- 
op George  was  a  man  of  deep  piety,  very  simple  in 
his  manners,  and  a  strong  and  even  powerful  preach- 
er. He  seems  never  to  have  acquired  a  very  safe 
knowledge  of  men,  and  was  a  stranger  to  the  diploma- 
cies of  the  world.  The  mistakes  into  which  he  fell  are 
attributable  more  to  this  lack  of  insight  on  the  one  hand 
and  of  a  worldly-wise  outlook  on  the  other  than  to  the 
absence  of  sincerity  or  genuineness  from  his  motive. 
He  was  a  frank  and  open  opponent,  never  hiding  his 
purposes  in  doubtful  words.  When  he  blundered,  it  was 
done  honestly.  He  was  genuinely  lamented  in  death. 
His  removal  laid  heavy  burdens  on  his  colleagues,  and 
the  greater  weight  fell  on  the  shoulders  of  the  young- 
est and  strongest — Joshua  Soule. 

An  impressive  physical  presence  is  a  happy  accom- 
paniment of  intellectual  individuality.  All  classes  of 
people  were  constantly  impressed  with  the  mark  of 
nobility  which  nature  had  put  upon  the  form  and  fea- 
tures of  Joshua  Soule.  In  the  autumn  of  1829,  while 
on  his  way  to  the  seat  of  the  Holston  Conference  at 
Abingdon,  Va.,  he  halted  for  the  night  at  a  wayside 
tavern.    The  porter  of  the  establishment  was  a  young 


Four  Times  Four.  181 

and  typical  Irishman,  who,  in  the  absence  of  the  pro- 
prietor, received  the  guest.  On  returning  to  the  prem- 
ises and  learning  that  a  stranger  had  arrived,  the  land- 
lord asked:  "Who  is  it,  Pat?''  ''Sure,  sor,"  returned 
the  porter,  "air  Oi  don't  roightlv  know ;  but  Oi'll 
stake  me  faith  that  he's  ayther  a  bishop  or  a  gineral, 
sor." 

At  a  still  more  Southern  Conference  in  the  same 
year  the  feeling  got  abroad  that  the  new  bishop,  being 
from  New  England,  would  naturally  be  loaded  with 
"Yankee  notions"  and  be  out  of  harmony  with  his 
Southern  fellows ;  but  long  before  he  had  finished  the 
work  of  the  session  they  voted  him  the  frankest,  most 
natural,  as  also  "the  greatest  and  most  affectionate" 
of  men. 

As  a  characteristic  incident  of  Bishop  Soule's  ex- 
perience during  the  quadrennium  between  1828  and 
1832  may  be  cited  his  visit  to  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence in  1830.  The  body  sat  in  the  historic  old  Light 
Street  Church  on  March  10.  It  was  at  the  height  of 
the  "reform"  movement,  but  the  controversy  was  now 
no  longer  inside  the  Conference.  "Great  peace  and 
unanimity  of  feeling  prevailed"  therein,  though  "a 
few  cases  of  trying  character  occurred."  The  Itiner- 
ant, a  local  Church  journal,  gave  this  account  of  the 
services  of  the  Sabbath  : 

On  Sunday  the  weather  was  unusually  fine,  and  a  scene  of 
more  than  ordinary  interest  was  presented  to  many  of  the 
friends  of  religion  in  Baltimore.  Several  clergymen  of  other 
Churches  politely  tendered  their  houses  of  worship  for  the 
services  of  the  Methodist  preachers,  and  we  believe  that  be- 
tween forty  and  fifty  officiated  in  the  different  congregations 


1 82  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

during  the  day.  Bishop  Soule  delivered  at  Caroline  Street 
Church  in  the  morning  a  most  interesting  and  impressive 
discourse  on  "The  Authority  and  Duties  of  the  Christian 
Ministry,"  after  which  he  ordained  eleven  deacons.  The  ser- 
mon was  alike  eloquent  and  able,  and  furnished  a  striking 
specimen  of  that  boldness  and  depth  of  thought  and  original, 
just,  and  energetic  application  of  it  for  which,  we  believe,  Mr. 
Soule  is  distinguished.  The  congregation,  though  overflow- 
ing, was  serious  and  attentive  throughout  the  discourse,  and 
at  times  many  were  deeply  affected.  The  Bishop  himself  wept 
when  he  touched  upon  the  extent  of  the  commission  and  the 
promise,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you,"  and  seemed  to  regret  that  he 
could  not  call  back  the  days  of  youth  and  devote  another  life 
to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  Deep,  we  believe,  was  the  con- 
viction felt  by  many  that  eloquence  more  than  human  was 
there,  and  that  God  of  a  truth  was  in  his  holy  temple  to 
bless  the  administration  of  his  word. 

During  all  these  years  the  Bishop's  home  was  at 
Lebanon,  Ohio,  and  much  of  the  time  he  was  dis- 
tressed by  afflictions  in  his  family.  Several  of  his 
children  were  of  delicate  frame  and  suffered  much 
from  disease.  One  can  imagine  what  heaviness  of 
longing  he  must  have  carried  about  in  his  continent- 
wide  wanderings  as  he  remembered  the  lonely  wife 
and  her  cares  of  love  and  responsibility. 

In  the  autumn  of  1820,  as  had  been  the  pleasant 
fortune  of  former  years,  Bishops  Soule  and  McKendree 
met  at  several  of  the  Western  and  Southern  Confer- 
ences. Before  me  is  an  autograph  letter  from  Bish- 
op McKendree,  dated  at  Fountain  Head,  Tenn.,  the 
home  of  his  brother,  Dr.  James  McKendree,  in  which 
he  refers  to  these  meetings  and  also  to  his  fast-fail- 
ing health.  This  reference  to  his  growing  physical 
weakness  was  evidently  meant  to  introduce  the  ven- 


Four  Times  Four.  183 

erable  Bishop's  plan  for  bequeathing  his  small  earthly 
accumulations  "to  the  support  of  the  gospel  committed 
to  the  itinerants."  This  letter  of  confidence  between 
men  who  lived  with  but  one  thought  contains  a  sen- 
tence which  the  men  of  this  day  may  profitabley  pon- 
der. "Should  our  itinerant  plan,"  writes  McKendree, 
"with  an  effective  general  superintendency,  remain  aft- 
er the  next  General  Conference,  I  now  intend  to  trans- 
fer my  care  in  the  management  and  my  responsibility 
in  the  appropriation  of  what  I  am  providentially  pos- 
sessed of  to  them  [i.  e.,  the  preachers]  and  trust  in 
the  Lord."  Even  at  that  day  McKendree  had  fears 
that  the  spirit  of  radicalism  might  successfully  assert 
itself  in  the  alteration  of  the  fundamentals  of  Metho- 
dist polity.  The  cavils  and  criticisms  of  to-day  are 
mild  compared  with  those  that  fretted  the  reverend 
ears  of  the  immediate  successor  of  Asbury.  A  com- 
panion document  to  the  letter  above  described  is  the 
original  copy  of  a  resolution  offered  in  the  Illinois 
Conference  as  the  result  of  a  suggestion  from  Bishop 
Soule  outlining  a  plan  for  applying  the  bequest  of 
Bishop  McKendree,  then  deceased,  for  the  benefit  of 
an  institution  of  learning  for  the  joint  use  of  the  Illi- 
nois and  Missouri  Conferences.  It  was  not  only  an 
act  of  official  duty,  but  a  fealty  of  love  and  friendship 
that  made  Soule  desire  to  see  the  bequest  of  his  de- 
parted father  and  colleague  handled  so  as  to  count  to 
the  uttermost.  But  the  record  of  this  bequest  has  put 
us  some  years  ahead  of  the  current  of  our  story. 

The  General  Conference  of  1832  convened  in  Phila- 
delphia, the  scene  of  the  first  Methodist  Conference 
ever  held  in  America,  in  1773.     The  opening  exercises 


184  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

were  conducted  by  Bishop  Soule,  who  also  read  the 
Episcopal  Address,  of  which  he  was  the  author,  as  he 
had  been  of  the  one  submitted  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence four  years  before.  This  address  particularly 
called  the  attention  of  the  Conference  to  the  subject 
of  missions  and  temperance  and  to  the  necessity  of 
strengthening  the  episcopacy  in  view  of  the  death  of 
Bishop  George  and  the  enlargement  of  the  work.  The 
Committee  of  Episcopacy  recommended  the  election 
of  two  additional  bishops,  and,  on  the  twenty-second 
day  of  the  sitting,  the  vote  being  taken,  James  O. 
Andrew  and  John  Emory  were  elected  on  the  first 
ballot,  the  former  receiving  140  votes  and  the  latter 
135  out  of  a  total  of  223  cast.  Bishop  Andrew  and 
Bishop  Soule  were  to  repeat  in  their  close  episcopal 
and  personal  affiliation  the  confidence  which  the  for- 
mer had  sustained  with  Bishop  McKendree.  In  a  time 
to  come  they  were  also  to  suffer  together  for  a  cause 
not  unlike  that  first  to  which  Soule  had  offered  as  a 
sacrifice  his  first  great  renunciation.  Emory  was  his 
old  antagonist  on  many  a  field  of  debate  and  conten- 
tion, but  Soule  received  his  new  colleague  as  a  brother 
and  took  him  to  his  heart.  The  friendship  which  sub- 
sisted between  them  was  genuine,  and  the  time  came 
when  Emory  fully  confessed  to  Soule  his  conviction 
that  in  the  old-time  issues  which  they  had  joined  his 
colleague  was  right,  and  by  his  course  had  saved  the 
Church. 

The  General  Conference  of  1832  is  notable  as  a 
session  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  fellowship  and  good 
will;  there  were  no  factions  in  the  body.  The  ghost 
of  partisanship  seems  to  have  fled  the  scene  entirely. 


Four  Times  Four.  185 

It  was  Bishop  McKendree's  last  General  Conference. 
Feeble  and  leaning  on  his  staff,  he  blessed  his  sons  and 
committed  to  them  the  inheritance  which  he  had  so 
long"  guarded  with  vigilance  and  devotion.  The  Con- 
ference completed  the  action  necessary  to  settle  in  the 
constitution  the  proviso  giving  the  Annual  Conferences 
jointly  with  the  General  Conference  power  to  alter 
any  of  the  restrictive  rules  except  the  first.  It  also 
recommended  a  decrease  in  the  ratio  of  representation 
from  the  Annual  Conferences,  and  recognized  the 
right  of  fractional  constituencies  to  representation. 
The  adjournment  was  taken  amid  conditions  of  peace 
and  hopefulness. 

As  in  other  quadrenniums  since  his  election,  the 
labors  of  Bishop  Soule  were  confined  largely  to  the 
South  and  West.  In  the  autumn  of  1834  he  presided 
over  the  Ohio  Conference  at  Circleville,  at  which  ses- 
sion an  interesting  affair  came  up  which  fully  illus- 
trates the  character  of  Soule  for  courage  and  faithful- 
ness to  conviction.  The  history  of  the  incident  has 
been  preserved  to  us  by  one  of  the  parties  chiefly  inter- 
ested. Jacob  Young,  who  had  been  friendly  and  even 
helpful  to  the  Bishop,  sought  to  use  his  influence  in 
a  somewhat  irregular  way.  In  fine,  he  desired  a  cer- 
tain appointment  made  which  both  the  Bishop  and  his 
advisers  disapproved  of.  Discovering  this  opposition, 
he  sought  to  have  the  Conference  ask  for  the  appoint- 
ment. The  Bishop  put  the  question,  but  took  occasion 
to  say  to  the  body:  "It  makes  no  difference  which  way 
you  vote,  I  shall  not  make  the  appointment."  "Pope" 
was  the  epithet  which  Young  and  his  partisans  visited 
upon  the  Bishop.     Perhaps  many  like  charges  are  as 


1 86  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

groundless  as  was  this.  A  fiery  Virginia  itinerant 
once  brought  against  him  an  accusation  of  partisan- 
ship and  threatened  to  "write  him  up  in  the  papers." 
"And  I,"  replied  the  Bishop,  "shall  not  write  the 
scratch  of  a  pen  in  answer."  In  every  issue  he  pro- 
ceeded on  the  belief  that  he  was  to  live  forever  and 
could  afford  to  wait  for  his  vindication. 

The  year  1835  brought  Soule  the  sorrow  of  his  life. 
On  March  5,  at  his  brother's  home  in  Sumner  Coun- 
ty, Tennessee,  Bishop  William  McKendree  laid  down 
his  Churchly  office  and  was  gathered  to  the  rest  of 
his  fathers.  The  second  of  the  preeminent  triumvirate 
of  great  American  bishops  was  gone.  The  third  re- 
mained to  preserve  the  traditions  of  Asburian  Metho- 
dism to  a  time  beyond  the  sounds  of  strife  and  war. 
The  might  of  early  Methodism  completed  itself  in  As- 
bury,  McKendree,  and  Soule.  In  December  of  the 
same  year  in  which  Bishop  McKendree  died  Bishop 
Emory  was  called  from  his  earthly  labors,  being  killed 
in  falling  from  his  carriage.  Thus  was  the  episcopacy 
again  reduced  to  four  members;  and  as  the  health  of 
both  Bishop  Roberts  and  Bishop  Hedding  was  not  ro- 
bust, the  labors  of  the  office  fell  heavily  upon  Soule 
and  his  younger  colleague,  Andrew. 

It  was  during  this  quadrennium,  and  chiefly  in 
Soule's  great  diocese  in  the  West,  that  the  movement 
first  started  by  Asbury  and  Boehm  to  evangelize  the 
German  immigrants  took  effective  and  successful 
shape.  Henry  Boehm  lived  to  be  more  than  a  hundred 
years  of  age,  dying  in  1875,  and  was  the  last  of  the 
preachers  who  remembered  the  Christmas  Confer- 
ence and  the  beginnings  of  Episcopal  Methodism. 


Four  Times  Four.  187 

Methodism  now  manifested  destiny  and  indicated 
the  course  of  her  empire  by  calling  the  seventh  Dele- 
gated General  Conference  (the  session  of  1836)  to 
meet  in  the  city  of  Cincinnati.  To  Soule  the  assem- 
bling of  this  Conference  was  like  the  coming  of  a  guest 
to  his  own  house,  for  Cincinnati  was  the  center  of  the 
territory  which  he  had  mainly  cultivated  since  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  episcopal  office.  His  colleagues,  Rob- 
erts, Hedding,  and  Andrew,  were  present  also.  The 
body  was  much  smaller  than  its  predecessor,  owing  to 
the  reduced  ratio  of  representation.  Bishop  McTyeire 
says  that  it  was  made  up  of  unusually  able  men. 

The  General  Conference  had  not  legislated  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  since  1824,  nor  had  any  important 
action  relating  thereto  been  taken  since  the  General 
Conference  of  1820.  That  session  took  from  the  An- 
nual Conferences  the  right  "to  form  their  own  regu- 
lations about  the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves."  The 
Church  had  been  living  all  the  while  under  the  rule 
established  in  18 16,  which  directed  that  "no  slave- 
holder shall  be  eligible  to  any  official  station  in  our 
Church  hereafter  where  the  laws  of  the  State  in 
which  he  lives  will  admit  of  emancipation  and  permit 
the  liberated  slave  to  enjoy  freedom."  Abolitionism, 
or  "modern  abolitionism,"  as  it  was  styled,  was  a 
new  phase  of  the  slavery  agitation.  It  was  rapidly 
becoming  a  political  issue,  but  the  Methodist  Church 
at  this  time  did  not  sympathize  with  the  doctrine 
which  its  advocates  preached.  The  general  position 
of  the  Methodists  then  was:  "Slavery  is  an  evil,  a 
gigantic  evil;  but  it  is  a  political  institution,  settled  in 
the   constitutions   of   many   of   the    States,   and    it   is 


1 88  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

therefore  not  within  the  power  of  the  Church  to  alter 
these  conditions.  It  is  our  duty  to  bear  the  gospel  to 
master  and  slave  alike,  and  to  give  such  directions  and 
make  such  rules  as  will  express  the  ultimate  of  our 
power  to  mitigate  the  evil."  This  was  the  doctrine  of 
Soule  and  those  who  stood  with  him  in  that  day  when 
calmness  of  thinking  on  this  matter  was  both  possible 
and  general. 

Strongly  and  unqualifiedly  did  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1836  express  itself  on  the  subject  of  "modern 
abolitionism."  There  lies  before  me  as  I  write  an 
original  copy  of  the  "extra"  issued  by  the  Western 
Christian  Advocate,  Cincinnati  (Dr.  Thomas  A.  Mor- 
ris, Editor),  of  the  date  of  May  21,  1836,  containing 
the  anti-abolition  resolutions  as  passed  in  the  body  by  a 
vote  of  122  affirmants  to  11  dissidents.  The  extra  car- 
ried a  vigorous  editorial  venturing  the  hope  that  "an 
expression  of  the  opinions  of  the  General  Conference 
so  strong  and  deliberately  made  will  have  much  influ- 
ence with  all  unreasonable  brethren  who  have  unfor- 
tunately engaged  in  the  visionary  and  mischievous 
project  of  modern  abolitionism." 

This  whole  question  is  no  longer  a  living  one,  and 
nobody  is  more  certain  than  is  the  author  of  this  biog- 
raphy of  the  unprofitableness  of  its  discussion  in  this 
day.  But  it  may  be  remarked  that  it  seems  incredible 
that  these  utterances  should  be  found  in  the  Journal 
of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  only  eight 
years  before  1844!  The  times  were  rapidly  shaping 
toward  a  change. 

Three  additional  bishops  were  elected  at  this  sitting. 


Four  Times  Four.  189 

They  were  Beverly  Waugh,  of  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, Thomas  A.  Morris,  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  and 
Wilbur  Fisk,  of  the  New  England  Conference.  It 
was  a  trio  of  remarkable  men ;  and  especially  was  the 
last  and  youngest,  Wilbur  Fisk,  a  man  of  most  note- 
worthy character  and  gifts.  In  truth,  Methodism  has 
produced  in  all  its  history  few,  if  any,  men  of  a  finer 
mold,  a  loftier  and  more  generous  spirit,  or  a  more 
genuine  culture  and  intellectual  zest.  He  was  the 
educational  leader  of  Methodism  in  the  earlier  decades 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  forty  years  old 
when  elected.  His  health  was  feeble,  and  he  was 
wedded  to  the  work  of  an  educator,  and  for  these  rea- 
sons declined  consecration  to  the  office  proffered  him 
by  the  votes  of  his  brethren. 

Bishop  Soule  was  for  many  years  a  sufferer  from 
asthma  and  rheumatism,  and  for  a  long  while  previous 
to  the  General  Conference  of  1836  his  health  had  been 
steadily  declining.  In  view  of  this  fact,  the  Confer- 
ence released  him  from  the  obligation  to  travel  on  full 
time  and  put  him  under  orders  of  his  own  discretion. 
But  he  had  two  colleagues  (Roberts  and  Hedding), 
who  were  more  feeble  than  himself,  and  the  work 
which  his  discretion  or  other  propulsion  induced  him 
to  undertake  during  the  next  quadrennium  was  by  no 
means  the  task  allotment  of  an  invalid.  Perhaps  his 
greatest  service  to  the  Church  during  the  earlier  years 
of  the  new  quadrennium  was  as  a  conciliator  of  dis- 
turbed sentiment  on  the  new  aspect  of  the  old  issue  of 
slavery.  Being  a  native  of  New  England  and  of 
known  courage  and  moderation,  his  word  was  usually 
accepted  as  oracular  by  both  sides  of  the  new  contro- 


190  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

versy.  Bishop  Morris  appealed  to  him  for  help 
in  the  New  Hampshire  sitting  in  1837,  and  there  was 
also  a  need  for  his  counsel  in  the  West,  as  there  was 
in  the  South,  though  it  must  be  known  that  in  the  latter 
section  the  call  for  a  moderator  grew  out  of  antipa- 
thetical sentiment.  But  it  was  this  man's  ability  to 
command  the  respect  and  become  the  successful  ad- 
viser of  dissevered  brethren  that  made  him  in  that  day 
a  minister  of  providence. 

In  an  unpublished  autograph  letter  from  Bishop 
Waugh  to  Bishop  Soule,  written  from  Burlington, 
New  Jersey,  on  May  7,  1839,  I  learn  much  that  con- 
cerns the  course  of  this  story  for  the  quadrennium. 
Bishop  Soule,  suffering  from  asthmatic  trouble  and 
rheumatism,  had  been  unable  to  attend  the  bishops' 
meeting  in  Baltimore.  Bishop  Waugh  wrote  to  con- 
sult him  concerning  the  centenary  of  Methodism,  the 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the 
United  Societies  in  England,  to  be  celebrated  that  year. 
This  letter  also  discloses  the  fact  that  abolitionism  was 
greatly  disturbing  the  Churches  in  New  England.  It 
shows  further  that  it  had  been  arranged  for  Bishop 
Soule  to  visit  the  New  England  and  Maine  Confer- 
ences at  their  next  sittings.  "Your  presence  and  aid 
at  the  two  Conferences,  reverend  and  dear  sir,"  con- 
tinues the  younger  colleague,  "will  be  more  than  de- 
sirable ;  they  will  be  necessary.  .  .  .  Let  me  there- 
fore earnestly  entreat  you  to  come."  The  publication 
of  this  letter  entire  would  be  of  curious  interest,  but 
of  what  use  ?  The  memory  of  Soule  does  not  need  it. 
How  strong  and  swerveless  he  was,  and  how  much 
trusted  he  was  until  prejudice  veiled  the  eyes  of  many, 


Four  Times  Four.  191 

this  letter  is  not  now  needed  to  show.  A  last  item  in 
this  communication  intimates  that  Soule  was  also  com- 
mitted to  take  a  large  share  of  the  "next  Southwestern 
routes" — that  is,  the  Southern  Conferences  for  1839-40. 
Before  the  time  for  meeting  those  obligations  arrived 
he  had  been  almost  perfectly  restored  to  health  and 
again,  though  nearing  his  sixtieth  year,  enjoyed  all 
but  the  vigor  and  buoyancy  of  his  youth.  A  new  honor 
and  an  inspiring  experience  awaited  him. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old. 

The  paternal  concern  of  Wesley  for  his  spiritual 
children  in  the  two  hemispheres  caused  him  to  make 
much  of  the  idea  of  a  continuous  unity  of  Methodism. 
This  thought  was  strong  with  Coke  and  Asbury,  as 
also  with  their  contemporaries.  But  though  Wesley's 
thought  was  of  a  species  of  organic  unity,  time  soon 
dispelled  the  idea  as  illusory  and  impossible.  How- 
ever, a  most  real  unity  of  spirit  has  always  subsisted 
between  the  two  great  divisions  of  the  Wesleyan  fam- 
ily in  the  Old  and  the  New  World.  The  substantial 
expression  of  that  unity  has  been  seen  in  the  persons 
of  fraternal  visitors  who  have  since  before  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century  regularly  borne  from  one  sec- 
tion to  the  other  official  greetings  and  served  as  me- 
dia for  the  exchange  of  kindred  sentiments  and  also 
as  agents  for  the  execution  of  more  practical  com- 
missions. 

In  the  earlier  decades  of  organized  Methodism  in 
America  Dr.  Coke  was  the  normal  medium — in  fact, 
the  living  link — between  the  two  sections,  and  this 
was  one  of  the  functions  which  gave  to  him  the  well- 
merited  title  of  "Foreign  Minister  of  Methodism." 
The  last  visit  of  Dr.  Coke  to  his  American  brethren 
occurred  during  the  General  Conference  of  1804. 
Messrs.  Black  and  Bennett,  two  Wesleyan  preachers 
(192) 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.       193 

in  Nova  Scotia,  visited  the  General  Conference  of 
1816  to  discuss  the  affairs  of  the  Canadian  stations,  the 
war  with  Great  Britain  having  sown  the  seeds  of  con- 
tention and  estrangement  between  the  American  and 
Canadian  Methodists.  They  were,  however,  not  regu- 
larly commissioned  delegates,  and  their  instructions 
confined  them  to  the  business  matters  upon  which  they 
had  been  charged.  Mr.  Black  had  indeed  been  present 
at  the  organization  of  the  Church,  in  1784,  and  was 
then,  as  in  1816,  cordially  received  and  treated  as  one 
of  the  American  itinerants  and  not  as  a  stranger.  It 
was  not  until  1820  that  a  messenger  regularly  com- 
missioned was  sent  by  the  Americans  to  their  brethren 
in  Europe.  In  that  year  the  General  Conference  ap- 
pointed Rev.  John  Emory,  later  elected  to  the  episco- 
pacy, to  visit  the  Wesleyan  Conference  in  England,  pri- 
marily for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  relations  of  the 
Canadian  Societies  to  the  two  Conferences.  He  was 
also  charged  to  bear  to  the  Methodists  of  the  British 
Isles  the  fraternal  greetings  of  their  brethren  in  Ameri- 
ca and  to  solicit  an  exchange  of  fraternal  visits  at  such 
times  as  might  prove  mutually  satisfactory.  Mr.  Em- 
ory accomplished  his  mission  in  a  most  creditable  and 
successful  manner.  His  visit  put  in  motion  the  in- 
fluences which  led  finally  to  the  establishment  under 
happy  conditions  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  Canada,  and  also  in  the  restoration  of  the  old-time 
familiar  relations  between  the  American  and  the  Eng- 
lish Conferences. 

In  1824  the  Wesleyan  connection  made  its  response 
to   these    fraternal    negotiations   by    sending   as    their 
messengers    to   the    Americans   Rev.    Richard    Reece 
13 


194  Life  of  Joshua  Soulc. 

and  his  companion,  Rev.  John  Hannah,  each  of  whom 
was  later  honored  with  an  election  to  the  presidency 
of  the  Conference  in  Great  Britain. 

The  first  regularly  commissioned  fraternal  dele- 
gate sent  by  the  American  connection  to  the  Mother- 
land was  Dr.  William  Capers,  elected  to  discharge 
that  office  by  the  General  Conference  of  1828.  The 
call  of  Dr.  Emory  in  1820  had  been  largely  fiscal  and 
for  the  purpose  of  opening  up  an  understanding 
touching  a  regular  exchange  of  personal  visitations. 
The  embassy  of  Drs.  Reece  and  Hannah  was  the  first 
in  the  now  long  list  of  official  interchanges,  so  that 
the  visit  of  Dr.  Capers  is  counted  the  first  return  from 
the  American  side.  Dr.  Capers  reported  at  the  ses- 
sion of  the  British  Conference  held  in  City  Road 
Chapel,  London,  in  the  month  of  August,  1828.  His 
address  aroused  great  enthusiasm,  and  the  Conference 
passed,  in  recognition  of  his  presence,  a  set  of  reso- 
lutions couched  in  terms  of  eloquence  and  admiration, 
thanking  him  for  "the  great  ability,  Christian  spirit, 
and  brotherly  kindness  with  which  he  had  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  honorable  mission." 

It  was  expected  and  greatly  desired  that  the  British 
brethren  would  send  a  representative  to  the  American 
Conference  at  its  sitting  in  Pittsburg,  in  1832,  but 
the  failure  to  have  this  wish  realized  probably  came 
about  through  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Americans 
to  secure  in  that  visitor  the  illustrious  Methodist 
scholar  and  commentator,  Adam  Clarke.  It  now  ap- 
pears that,  in  pursuance  of  that  wish,  Bishop  McKen- 
dree  named  an  out-of-Conference  committee  to  com- 
municate with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  visit.     This 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.      195 

committee  consisted  of  Messrs.  J.  Emory,  B.  Waugh, 
N.  Bangs,  F.  Hall,  and  George  Suckley.  The  reply 
to  the  communication  came  in  course.  This  letter 
was  published  by  Bishop  Paine  in  his  "Life  of  Mc- 
Kendree,"  and  so  has  become  familiar  to  many  Metho- 
dists, but  the  special  interest  which  now  attaches  to 
it  for  me  is  that  the  original  autograph  copy  lies  be- 
side this  page  as  I  write.  It  is  inscribed  in  a  neat, 
bold  hand  and  the  letters  are  well  formed,  though 
the  writer  was  then  beyond  three-score  and  ten.  Had 
the  letter  reached  him  a  few  months  earlier,  he 
would  most  certainly  have  endeavored  to  meet  the 
wishes  of  the  committee,  so  he  wrote  them;  but  his 
engagements  were  then  too  many  and  too  important 
to  be  canceled.  His  age  also  had  to  be  considered. 
The  letter  closes  with  felicitations  and  some  practical 
advice  to  the  preachers  in  America  as  coming  from  a 
patriarch  of  the  Methodist  family. 

In  the  address  of  the  British  Conference  of  1835  to 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States 
of  America  it  is  said  : 

We  have  a  confidential  agent  in  the  Western  Continent  in 
the  person  of  our  beloved  brother,  Rev.  William  Lord ;  an 
opportunity  is  thus  presented  for  renewing  the  affectionate 
fraternal  intercourse  of  the  two  great  families  of  Wesleyan 
Methodism. 

There  is  a  degree  of  ambiguity  in  this  language, 
but  it  was  evidently  considered  and  accepted  as  an 
official  appointment  in  the  line  of  fraternal  visitation. 
Dr.  Wilbur  Fisk,  who  was  offered  the  bishopric  in 
Canada  and  who  was  elected  bishop  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  in 


196  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

1836,  had  been  traveling  in  Europe  during  parts  of 
that  and  the  previous  year,  and  had  visited  the  British 
Conference  in  the  capacity  of  a  fraternal  messenger. 
Dr.  Stephen  Olin,  who  spent  the  years  between  1839 
and  1841  traveling  in  Europe  and  the  East,  made  a 
fraternal  call  upon  the  British  Conference  at  its  session 
at  Liverpool  in  1839. 

The  first  regular  official  visitor  from  the  British 
Conference  returning  the  call  of  Dr.  Capers  was 
not  named  until  1840,  when  the  distinguished  Scotch- 
English  preacher  and  ex-President  of  the  Conference, 
Dr.  Robert  Newton,  was  commissioned  with  a  fra- 
ternal message  to  the  General  Conference  which  sat 
that  year  in  Baltimore.  The  eloquent  visitor  was  not 
only  "heard  with  delight  and  profit  from  the  pulpit 
and  platform,  but  he  preached  in  the  open  air  to  im- 
mense crowds,  showing  on  a  Baltimore  square  the  se- 
cret of  gospel  power  that  had  triumphed  on  Moorfield 
Common  a  hundred  years  before." 

After  Dr.  Newton  had  delivered  his  address  to  the 
Conference,  and  before  his  departure,  it  became  gen- 
erally known  that  he  had  expressed  the  sentiment  that 
it  would  be  gratifying  both  to  himself  and  to  his 
brethren  in  Europe  should  the  Conference  see  fit  to 
send  as  the  bearer  of  its  next  fraternal  message  Rev. 
Bishop  Soule.  Accordingly,  on  June  2  Bishop  Soule 
was  appointed  to  visit  the  British  Conference  at  its 
sitting  in  1842.  At  the  Bishop's  own  request  Rev. 
Thomas  B.  Sargent,  a  man  of  many  attainments  and  a 
leader  in  his  day,  was  appointed  to  be  his  traveling 
companion.  The  extent  to  which  the  personality  and 
powers  of  Bishop  Soule  had  impressed  the  wise  and 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.       197 

pious  Newton  was  to  be  repeated  through  the  Metho- 
dist connection  in  England  and  Ireland  when  the  great 
Methodist  leader  from  the  New  World  appeared  in 
the  two  Conferences. 

The  original  of  the  passport  of  Bishop  Soule  meant 
for  use  on  this  journey  is  in  my  hands.  It  was  issued 
in  what  was  then  a  usual  form  by  the  Department  of 
State  at  Washington  City,  and  bears  date  of  April  8, 
1842.  It  instructs  "all  whom  it  may  concern  to  per- 
mit safely  and  freely  to  pass  Bishop  Joshua  Soule, 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  in  case  of  need 
to  give  him  all  lawful  aid  and  protection."  The  "de- 
scription" carried  prominently  on  the  face  of  the  pass- 
port is  interesting  as  giving  a  sort  of  pen  portrait  of 
the  Bishop  as  he  was  "taken"  by  the  officials.  It  is  as 
follows — viz. : 

Age,  61  years;  stature,  5  feet  and  11  inches;  forehead, 
high;  eyes,  blue;  nose,  Roman;  mouth,  ordinary;  chin,  ditto; 
hair,  gray;  complexion,  fair;  face,  oval. 

The  port  and  customs  indorsement  on  this  folio 
of  parchment  give  us  a  sort  of  chart  of  the  Bishop's 
journey  in  Europe  made  in  connection  with  his  official 
visit.  The  English  customs  and  inspectors  seem  to 
have  taken  his  papers  with  great  deference,  as  no 
indorsement  of  an  English  hand  is  found  on  them; 
but  the  French  officials  wrote  upon  the  folio  until  it 
has  somewhat  the  appearance  of  a  palimpsest.  In- 
dorsements were  made  at  Calais,  Paris,  Boulogne,  and 
elsewhere.  Equally  interesting  is  a  companion  relic 
of  this  passport,  resting  in  the  collection  before  re- 
ferred to.     It  is  a  cabin  plan  of  the  trans-Atlantic 


198  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

steamer  Stephen  Whitney,  upon  which  the  Bishop 
made  his  outgoing  voyage.  The  stateroom  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  the  Bishop  and  his  companion  were  care- 
fully marked  with  red  ink,  and  a  note  was  made  by 
the  ship  house  clerk  on  the  margin  showing  that  the 
reservation  had  been  made  for  ''Bishop  Soule  and  his 
friend."  Even  then  the  Atlantic  steamers  (though  it 
was  long  before  the  days  of  the  modern  "greyhounds") 
were  an  embodiment  of  much  real  comfort,  and  it  is 
pleasant  to  look  on  this  blueprint  diagram  of  the  good 
ship  Stephen  Whitney  and  think  of  the  invigorating 
days  spent  by  the  tired  Bishop  and  his  companionable 
friend  on  her  ample  deck  ways  and  in  the  wide  and 
well-furnished  saloons.  It  was  then  not  a  matter  of 
four  days  and  some  hours  and  minutes  across  the  At- 
lantic, but  of  a  fortnight  or  more  even  under  the  power 
of  steam. 

I  can  find  no  definite  information  as  to  when  the 
Stephen  Whitney  sailed  from  New  York,  but  from 
letters  written  by  Drs.  Durbin  and  Sewall  in  Paris  and 
addressed  to  the  Bishop  in  London,  I  take  it  that  he 
was  expected  to  reach  that  city  somewhere  near  the 
first  of  June.  Durbin  and  his  companion  were  on  the 
way  to  the  Mediterranean  and  the  East.  Their  let- 
ters were  postmarked  "Paris,  June  3,"  and  the  Lon- 
don stamp  shows  that  they  reached  that  city  on  June 
n.  But  the  Bishop  and  Dr.  Sargent  had  already 
reached  London  and  had  proceeded  on  their  way  to 
Ireland.  This  I  conclude  from  the  fact  that  the  pack- 
et was  readdressed  to  Dublin.  As  the  letter  of  Dr. 
Durbin  forecasts  somewhat  the  expected  movements 
of  the  Bishop  on  the  Continent,  and  as  it  was  the  first 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.      199 

literary  output  of  a  journey  whose  story,  being  written 
into  several  volumes,  added  no  little  to  the  writer's 
fame,  I  have  decided  to  print  it  in  full.  It  affords,  in 
addition  to  its  relation  to  the  matters  above  mentioned, 
a  pleasant  glimpse  into  the  experience  of  an  American 
of  the  "forties"  traveling  in  Europe. 

Paris,  June  3,  1842. 
My  Dear  Brother:  By  the  advice  of  every  intelligent  gentle- 
man met  we  have  been  induced  to  forego  visiting  the  Irish 
Conference  and  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  and  Dr.  Sargent 
there.  We  have  clearly  ascertained  that  it  will  be  impossible 
for  us  to  see  Switzerland  and  the  Alps  to  advantage  after  the 
British  Conference ;  and  if  we  go  to  the  Irish  Conference  now, 
we  cannot  visit  both  Switzerland  and  Germany.  It  therefore 
becomes  necessary  for  us  to  change  our  route  and  proceed 
from  Paris  to  Switzerland,  probably  cross  over  the  Alps  at 
Mt.  Cenis  to  Turin  and  Milan,  then  recross  them  by  the 
Simplon  to  Geneva,  thence  to  the  Rhine,  down  the  Rhine  to 
Antwerp,  and  steamboat  to  London  about  the  first  of  August. 
Then  we  shall  have  the  pleasant  months  of  August  and  Sep- 
tember at  our  command  for  England.  When  we  leave  En- 
gland we  propose  to  pass  through  Germany  by  Hamburg,  Leip- 
sic,  Dresden,  Berlin,  Vienna,  and  thence  to  Italy;  but  fur- 
ther information  may  cause  us  to  alter  our  plans.  We  have 
yielded  to  this  the  more  readily  as  we  do  not  know  what  is 
your  route  or  how  far  you  propose  to  extend  it.  We  are  not 
positive  that  we  will  proceed  to  Egypt.  This  we  will  determine 
when  we  reach  London.  I  have  seen  General  Cass,  and  he  very 
strongly  urges  us  to  go  to  Egypt  and  Palestine.  He  has  been 
over  these  countries.  He  advises  us  to  go  from  Vienna  to 
Constantinople  down  the  Danube  before  we  visit  Italy,  but 
of  this  we  must  consider  after  we  reach  London.  Perhaps 
then  your  course  will  be  fixed  so  that  we  can  know  how  to 
proceed. 

I  need  not  speak  to  you  of  Paris,  as  I  suppose  you  will 
visit  it.     I  have  taken  a  good  deal  of  pleasure  in  the  Wesley- 


200  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

an  Mission,  and  have  preached  for  them  once.  We  a^e  in  ex- 
cellent health.  Both  Mr.  Carlton  and  Brother  Sewall  have 
very  much  improved  in  appearance  and  health.  I  hope  you 
will  have  had  a  short,  pleasant  passage,  and  that  you  are  in 
fine  health  and  spirits,  and  that  your  visit  to  the  English 
Methodist  Church  may  be  a  blessing  to  it  and  an  honor  to  us, 
of  which  I  cannot  doubt. 

Until  we  see  you,  if  the  Lord  will,  in  London,  be  pleased 
to  accept  my  best  wishes  and  earnest  desire  for  your  health 
and  peace,  and  present  us  kindly  to  Brother  Sargent. 

Your  brother,  John  P.  Durbin. 

The  Rev.  Bishop  Joshua  Soule. 

The  Irish  Conference  met  in  the  city  of  Dublin 
Friday,  June  24,  1842,  Rev.  James  Dixon,  President  of 
the  Wesleyan  Connection,  presiding.  This  was  the 
first  meeting  between  Dr.  Dixon  and  Bishop  Soule, 
but  their  spirits  embraced  each  other  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  kinship  of  greatness  and  deathless  confidence. 
The  admiration  of  Dr.  Dixon  for  Bishop  Soule  was 
enthusiastic,  and  grew  with  the  years.  When  a  fra- 
ternal delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Meth- 
dist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
in  1848,  the  magnet  of  Bishop  Soule's  personality  not 
only  drew  him  southward  in  visitation,  but  ravished 
anew  his  thoughts  of  admiration  and  respect  for  him. 
He  wrote  after  his  return  to  his  own  country  these 
most  appreciative  words : 

Many  of  the  brethren  accompanied  us  to  the  vessel  to  bid 
us  farewell.  Amongst  the  rest  was  Bishop  Soule.  I  saw 
him  for  the  last  time  with  an  aching  heart,  amongst  the  group 
of  preachers  and  people.  It  is  sad  to  think  of  seeing  him  no 
more.  I  felt  this  keenly  as  I  turned  my  eyes  from  him  with 
the  certainty  that  it  was  a  final  adieu.     A  noble  man!     One 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.      201 

of  the  first  spirits  in  America !  In  bearing  a  perfect  gentle- 
man, manly,  courteous,  and  dignified;  in  principle,  feeling, 
and  demeanor  a  true  Christian ;  in  character  and  caliber  of 
mind  strong,  clear,  masculine ;  in  moral  force  firm,  unwaver- 
ing, inflexible;  in  official  life  judicious,  prudent,  and  decided  in 
his  adherence  to  settled  constitutional  rule,  but  practical  and 
wise;  in  evangelical  toils  and  labors  as  abundant  as  any  liv- 
ing man  in  the  Church ;  and  in  spirit  calm,  courageous,  and 
active.  For  a  fortnight  I  had  enjoyed  the  happiness  of 
Bishop  Soule's  society,  and  my  inmost  soul  reverenced  and 
did  homage  to  him  on  taking  a  last  look  at  his  manly  and 
venerable  form. 

The  appearance  of  Bishop  Soule  and  his  associate, 
Dr.  Sargent,  before  the  Irish  Conference  aroused  in 
the  entire  body  the  most  genuine  enthusiasm  and  be- 
came a  beginning  of  dates.  There  was  something  in 
the  American  Bishop's  appearance  as  in  his  manner, 
intonations  and  majesty  of  expression  that  appealed 
with  special  directness  to  the  Irish  temperament.  It 
was  the  measure  of  Celtic  blood  in  him,  and  the  bal- 
anced mastery  and  kindness  of  his  bearing.  In  his 
addresses  and  sermons  he  fairly  captured  the  multi- 
tudes, and  everywhere  he  went  in  the  island  the  most 
genuine  deference  was  paid  him.  He  was  the  first 
American  Methodist  bishop  to  visit  the  Old  World. 
Dr.  Coke  was  never  thought  of  in  Europe  in  connec- 
tion with  his  American  episcopate,  and  not  many  of 
that  generation  even  remembered  the  "Foreign  Min- 
ister of  Methodism."  To  the  Irish  Methodists  Bish- 
op Soule  was  officially  the  same  as  one  of  the  lords 
spiritual  of  the  Anglican  Establishment,  and  by  rea- 
son of  his  brotherly  and  tender  spirit  he  became  a 
thousand  times  more  lordly  in  fact.     When  the  Bish- 


202  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

op,  speaking  for  himself  and  his  companion,  protested 
the  kindness  and  consideration  of  the  Conference,  say- 
ing, "You  have  received  us  as  angels  unawares,"  a 
strong  and  heartful  voice  cried  in  response:  "And 
angels  you  have  proven  yourselves  to  be." 

While  at  the  session  of  the  Irish  Conference  the 
Bishop  heard  a  sorrowful  note  running  through  the 
reports  concerning  the  net  loss  in  the  membership  in 
the  island.  Thousands  of  Methodists  had  left  the  sod 
to  find  homes  on  foreign  shores.  By  far  the  larger 
number  of  these  had  gone  to  America.  The  Bishop 
gave  a  special  pledge  that,  inasmuch  as  America  owed 
so  much  to  Ireland  because  of  her  gift  of  Strawbridge 
and  Embury,  these  Irish  Wesleyans  should  be  min- 
istered to  in  their  new  home.  This  pledge  is  grate- 
fully referred  to  in  the  Annual  Address  of  the  Irish 
Conference  for  that  year.  In  the  Address  of  the  Brit- 
ish Conference  to  the  Irish  brethren  the  following  elo- 
quent reference  is  made  to  the  honored  visitors: 

Among  other  incidents  which  have  given  more  than  ordi- 
nary interest  to  our  present  Conference,  we  cannot  omit 
mentioning  the  presence  and  ministerial  communications  of 
Bishop  Soule  and  his  clerical  companion,  Rev.  Thomas  B. 
Sargent,  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America.  From  them  we  have  had  lucid  and  powerful 
expositions  of  those  holy  doctrines  which,  through  the  bless- 
ing of  God  on  the  preaching  of  the  Wesleys,  first  raised  our 
Societies  into  existence,  and  which,  through  the  continuance 
of  the  same  rich  blessing,  still  nourish  our  people  in  newness 
of  life.  In  the  venerable  Bishop  we  have  discerned  the  same 
benignant,  self-sacrificing,  and  undaunted  spirit  which  animated 
the  fathers  of  our  own  connection ;  and  from  his  cheering 
statements   we  have   received   ample   evidence   that  Wesleyan 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.      203 

Methodism,  though  varying  in  some  adventitious  circum- 
stances, is  the  same  in  spirit,  principle,  and  efficiency  in  both 
communities. 

During  his  entire  stay  at  the  English  Conference 
the  Bishop  met  only  such  treatment  as  his  exalted 
worth  and  his  office  as  the  representative  of  the  most 
numerous  body  of  Methodists  in  the  world  merited. 
Equally  with  their  Irish  brethren  the  English  Wes- 
leyans  responded  to  the  call  of  his  lofty  thought  and 
fraternal  sentiment.  His  Sabbath  evening  sermon  be- 
fore the  Conference  made  a  particularly  profound  im- 
pression, as  the  following  official  resolution  entered 
upon  the  Journal  of  the  session  will  show : 

That  the  thanks  of  the  Conference  be  presented  to  the 
Rev.  Joshua  Soule,  D.D.,  one  of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  for  the 
sermon  which  he  delivered  in  City  Road  Chapel  on  Sunday 
evening,  July  31 ;  and  that  he  be  earnestly  requested  to  fur- 
nish a  copy  of  it  for  publication  in  the  Magazine. 

At  the  Conference  ordination  service  Bishop  Soule 
was  invited  by  the  President,  Dr.  Hannah,  to  join  in 
the  laying  on  of  hands.  This  he  did,  placing  his 
hands  on  the  head  of  each  member  of  the  class,  and 
in  doing  so  was  permitted  the  then  unrealized  priv- 
ilege of  assisting  to  consecrate  the  most  distinguished 
and  most  gifted  preacher  that  Methodist  England 
knew  during  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. This  was  William  Arthur,  author  of  "The 
Tongue  of  Fire"  and  missionary  captain  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  hosts.  Everywhere  in  England  during  his  two 
months'  stay  the  likeness  of  the  American  bishop  to 


204  Life  of  Joshua  Souk. 

the  Iron  Duke  was  remarked  upon.  This  was  a  re- 
semblance that  did  not  come  of  chance,  nor  yet  was 
it  of  that  class  of  results  flowing  from  a  like  mastery 
of  spirit  and  purpose.  Like  the  New  World  bishop, 
the  Old  World  hero  was  of  Norman-Celtic,  or,  more 
correctly,  of  Norse-Gaelic  blood,  and  perhaps  the 
lines  of  their  heredity  approached  each  other  more 
nearly  in  the  age  behind  the  days  of  William  Rufus 
than  any  genealogist  could  now  tell.  The  claim  that 
the  heredity  of  the  Wesleys  is  involved  in  this  line  is 
not  a  groundless  one. 

Before  he  left  England  Bishop  Soule  was  asked  by 
the  Wesleyan  Conference  to  sit  for  his  portrait,  and 
one  of  the  most  celebrated  portrait  painters  of  the 
realm  was  employed  to  do  the  work.  It  is  doubtful 
if,  in  the  whole  history  of  Methodist  fraternal  inter- 
course, any  messenger  ever  received  such  distinguished 
attentions  and  courtesies  as  were  extended  to  Bishop 
Soule.  In  the  Fraternal  Address  of  the  Conference 
sent  the  next  year  to  the  Church  in  America  appears 
this  reference  to  the  Bishop's  visit: 

The  visit  of  your  honored  delegate,  the  venerable  Bishop 
Soule,  to  our  country  was  exceedingly  welcome  and  gratify- 
ing to  us.  His  kindly  spirit  in  every  season  of  our  more 
private  interviews  with  him,  the  lively  interest  which  he  took 
in  all  our  concerns,  whether  domestic  or  foreign,  the  copious 
information  with  which  he  favored  us  concerning  the  plans, 
proceedings,  and  evangelical  conquests  of  your  branch  of 
our  Lord's  universal  Church,  and  his  truly  able  and  edifying 
public  ministrations  among  us  have  left  an  impression  on  our 
minds  which  time  will  not  easily  efface.  Long  may  he  be 
spared  in  life,  and  blessed  by  our  Heavenly  Master  as  an  in- 
strument of  yet  greater  and  more  extensive  good !     By  the 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.      20 


care  of  divine  providence  he  is  now  returned  in  saftey  to 
your  shores ;  and  he  will  be  able  to  supply  you  with  intelli- 
gence of  our  movements,  trials,  and  successes  far  beyond  what 
we  should  be  able  to  convey  in  any  written  communication. 

This  is  the  place  to  insert  the  record  of  a  somewhat 
incongruous  matter  committed  to  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Soule  as  the  American  Fraternal  Messenger  to  En- 
gland by  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  in  Canada. 
From  the  moment  the  American  Conference  consented 
to  the  organization  of  the  Canadian  societies  into  an  in- 
dependent body  there  was  friction  between  it  and  the 
missionaries  of  the  Wesleyan  connection  in  England. 
The  situation  was  becoming  more  distressful  every 
year,  and  the  encroachments  of  the  London  mission- 
aries upon  the  territory  of  their  brethren  went  on 
without  hindrance  from  headquarters.  The  British 
had  in  1835  and  1836  retained  Rev.  William  Lord 
in  Canada  as  a  confidential  agent.  It  was  thus  that 
he  became  the  fraternal  visitor  to  the  American  Con- 
ference in  1836.  The  Canadians  now  besought  Bishop 
Soule  to  use  his  influence  while  in  England  to  secure 
an  abatement  of  the  fraternity-destroying  conditions 
existing  in  their  field.  The  original  of  the  paper  in 
which  this  request  is  made  is  before  me.  Its  language 
is  strangely  like  that  of  not  a  few  letters  from  the 
border  which  I  have  met  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years  in  the  newspapers  of  both  Methodisms.  The 
document  consists  of  twelve  legal  cap  pages  inscribed 
in  the  clearest  chirography  and  expressed  in  correct 
and  forceful  English.  That  the  complainants  had,  or 
were  convinced  that  they  had,  a  cause,  this  paper 
leaves  no  ground  for  doubt.    It  bears  the  signature  of 


206  Life  of  Joshua  Soulc. 

the  President  of  the  Canadian  Conference,  Rev.  W. 
Ryerson,  the  most  capable  and  statesmanlike  man  to 
be  found  in  the  early  Canadian  organization.  There 
is  not  space  in  this  biography  for  the  whole  of  this 
historic  writing,  but  parts  of  it  bear  so  directly  on  the 
proper  subject  of  my  story  that  I  venture  to  make 
an  extract  or  two. 

We  beg  most  respectfully  [the  complainants  say  to  Bishop 
Soule],  to  address  you  on  a  subject  of  great  importance  to  our 
common  Methodism  and  to  its  peaceful  operations  in  upper 
Canada.  We  are  induced  to  do  so  by  our  former  connection 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States, 
by  the  dutiful  respect  we  owe  to  our  venerable  fathers  and 
brethren  of  that  Church,  and  by  the  high  regard  we  have  for 
yourself  personally,  known  as  you  are  to  possess  the  most 
clear  and  comprehensive  views  of  the  characteristic  principles 
and  features  of  Methodism  and  to  value  the  inviolable  main- 
tenance of  them  even  more  than  your  own  existence.  .  .  .  Not- 
withstanding schisms  created  by  the  agents  of  the  London 
Wesleyan  Missionary  Committee,  we  number  121  itinerant 
ministers  and  upward  of  17,000  members. 

In  1831  and  1832  correspondence  took  place  between  our 
Missionary  Board  and  the  Wesleyan  Committee  in  London 
on  the  subject  of  their  establishing  separate  societies  in  up- 
per Canada.  .  .  .  You  will  perceive  that  our  Conference 
was  reduced  to  the  alternative  of  having  its  fields  of  labor 
made  an  arena  of  strife  or  proposing  some  arrangement  by 
which  a  union  might  be  maintained  * 

*The  original  of  this  paper  was  in  the  name  of  the  family 
of  Bishop  McTyeire  presented  by  the  author  of  this  biography 
to  the  Rev.  James  Young,  D.D.,  fraternal  delegate  from  the 
Methodist  Church  of  Canada  at  the  session  of  the  General 
Conference  held  at  Asheville,  N.  C,  in  May,  1910. 


The  New  World's  Messenger  to  the  Old.      207 

What  action  the  Bishop  took  on  this  request  we 
have  no  means  of  determining.  That  in  his  own  wise, 
delicate,  and  entirely  courteous  way  he  brought  the 
contention  of  the  Canadian  brethren  before  the  au- 
thorities in  England  we  have  reason  to  believe  from 
the  following  question  in  the  British  Minutes  of  that 
year — viz.,  "What  is  the  decision  of  the  Conference  on 
those  Canadian  affairs  which  have  this  year  been 
urged  to  its  attention?"  We  doubt  if  the  answer  to 
that  question  was  wholly  satisfactory  to  the  Canadians ; 
but  the  issue,  like  many  another  in  Methodism,  has 
ceased  to  have  relevancy.* 

The  Bishop's  passport  shows  that,  leaving  England 
on  his  return  journey,  he  reached  France  on  August 
7,  1842,  and  that  he  was  in  Paris  on  September  17. 
Beyond  this  I  have  been  unable  to  trace  the  course  of 
his  continental  travels.  That  they  were  not  extended 
is  certain.  He  must  be  in  America  in  time  to  take  up 
his  share  of  the  late  autumn  and  winter  Conference 
visitations,  so  he  was  soon  upon  the  ocean  and  home- 
ward bound,  loaded  with  honors,  thankful  for  abun- 
dant mercies,  and  filled  with  peace.  Little  did  he  then 
dream  of  the  strife  destined  to  break  about  him  in  the 
land  and  the  Church  he  loved. 

*Some  years  later  the  wish  of  the  Canadians  for  an  under- 
standing had  a  happy  consummation  in  the  union  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  forces  in  the  Dominion.  The  secret  of  how  much  the 
influence  of  the  American  delegate  contributed  to  this  end  is 
with  the  other  unrecorded  facts  of  history. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
Where  Two  Seas  Met. 

Neither  the  motif  nor  the  scope  of  this  biography 
calls  for  a  recital  of  the  details  of  the  melancholy  his- 
tory that  fell  to  the  Methodist  Church  between  1843 
and  1845,  tne  period  of  Bishop  Soule's  life  to  be  cov- 
ered by  the  present  chapter.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  ver- 
ify the  incidents  and  events  with  which  he  was  con- 
nected and  determine  the  extent  to  which  they  were  in- 
fluenced by  his  utterances  and  actions. 

When  the  fraternal  delegate  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  the  United  States  of  America  to  the 
Wesleyan  connection  in  England  reached  his  native 
shores  in  the  autumn  of  1842,  he  was  made  aware  that  a 
material  change  had  taken  place  in  the  public  sentiment 
of  the  Church  in  the  North  and  East  during  the  time  of 
his  sojourn  abroad. 

The  action  of  the  General  Conference  of  1836  in  de- 
claring strongly,  even  radically,  against  abolitionism 
will  be  readily  recalled  by  the  reader.  Two  of  the  del- 
egates in  attendance  upon  that  session  were  severely 
censured  for  visiting  and  speaking  before  an  abolition 
meeting  during  the  time  of  the  Conference  sitting. 
More  than  this,  strong  men  like  Wilbur  Fisk,  Bishop 
Hedding,  Nathan  Bangs,  and  Dr.  Abel  Stevens  took 
the  side  of  the  Church,  as  expounded  in  the  rule  of 
18 1 6,  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  sought  to  stem  the 
rising  tide  of  abolitionism  in  the  Churches  of  their  na- 

(208) 


Where  Tzvo  Seas  Met.  209 

tive  section;  but  it  soon  began  to  be  seen  that  radical 
views  were  destined  to  obtain.  The  two  censured  dele- 
gates, Messrs.  Norris  and  Snorr,  returned  to  their  Con- 
ference (the  New  Hampshire),  and  were  publicly  ap- 
proved by  their  constituency.  Meetings  to  inveigh 
against  the  action  of  Church  authorities  were  held,  "ap- 
peals" were  addressed  to  the  Methodist  public,  and  a 
newspaper  was  started  in  the  interest  of  abolitionism  in 
the  Church.  Then  came  the  troubles  experienced  by 
the  general  superintendents  in  holding  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences. "The  older  Bishops,  Hedding  and  Soule,  en- 
countered rough  seas,  but  weathered  the  storm  with 
only  slight  damage."  The  other  bishops,  being  less  ex- 
perienced, dreaded  the  call  to  preside  over  the  New  En- 
gland Conferences ;  but  their  turn  came.  It  has  been 
noted  already  that,  though  Bishop  Soule  was  during 
those  years  on  the  voluntary  service  list  through  in- 
validism, he  was  much  burdened,  and  suffered  above 
any  of  his  colleagues  because  of  these  matters.  Both  he 
and  Bishop  Hedding  were  charged  with  autocracy  and 
usurpation  of  power,  and  were  slandered  and  roundly 
berated  while  presiding  over  Conferences.  In  their 
judgment  of  Bishop  Soule  the  abolitionists  were  partic- 
ularly severe.  He  was  represented  as  saying  that  "he 
never  had  advised  and  never  would  advise  the  freeing 
or  manumission  of  a  slave ;"  while  all  his  teachings,  be- 
liefs, and  actions  were  contrary  to  such  sentiments. 
But  it  booted  him  little  to  disavow  them  or  to  ask  dis- 
cipline against  the  authors  of  even  more  violent  accusa- 
tions. Acquittals  for  the  offenders  were  the  uniform 
answers. 

The  General  Conference  of  1840  came  on,  and  still 
14 


210  Life  of  Joshua  Soulc. 

the  abolition  sentiment  inside  the  Church  was  unap- 
preciable  except  in  New  England.  In  the  Episcopal 
Address,  of  which  Soule  was  the  author,  the  whole 
question  of  slavery,  as  also  the  situation  then  existing 
in  the  Church  which  had  grown  out  of  the  abolition 
agitation,  was  gone  over.  The  majority  still  held  to 
the  traditional  teaching  of  Methodism  on  the  evils  of 
slavery  and  the  necessity  for  its  extirpation,  but  disal- 
lowed the  expediency  of  radical  agitation,  action,  or  ut- 
terance. There  is  neither  common  sense  nor  Christian 
logic  in  holding  that  the  extirpation  of  American  slav- 
ery had  to  come  by  the  bloody  path  of  war,  or  that  vio- 
lent disruptions  of  religious  and  social  fabrics  were 
necessary  to  emphasize  its  evils.  Dr.  Nathan  Bangs, 
the  historian,  who  has  been  frequently  quoted  in  this  bi- 
ography and  a  man  who  was  never  suspected  of  the 
slightest  pro-slavery  tendency,  writing  in  1840,  in  the 
fourth  volume  of  his  history  says : 

As  it  is  not  my  wish  to  advert  to  abolitionism  again,  I 
will  remark  here  that  it  has  continued  to  agitate  the  Church 
from  that  time  to  this,  much  disturbing  its  peace  and,  in  some 
of  the  Annual  Conferences,  distracting  its  councils,  producing 
finally  the  secession  of  a  few  individuals.  Indeed,  it  was  feared 
for  a  time  that  its  disastrous  results  would  be  extensively  felt, 
particularly  in  some  of  the  Eastern  and  Northern  Conferences ; 
but  it  has  so  far  passed  off  in  a  much  more  quiet  manner  than 
was  anticipated,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  but  few,  compara- 
tively, will  be  seriously  and  lastingly  injured  by  these  injudi- 
cious measures.  Perhaps,  however,  a  future  day  may  disclose 
facts  of  a  different  character,  and  a  future  historian  may  be 
called  to  bear  his  testimony  to  a  different  result.  Though  it 
is  somewhat  difficult  to  reconcile  the  conduct  of  some  few 
leaders  in  the  ranks  of  abolitionism  with  a  sincere  regard  to 
the  interests  of  truth  and  righteousness,  yet  we  are  willing 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  211 

to  award  to  most  of  those  who  engaged  in  the  controversy 
an  honest  desire  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  slave  and 
to  purify  the  Church  from  what  they  considered  a  sinful  pollu- 
tion, although  we  cannot  but  think  that  their  measures  were 
ill  chosen,  their  arguments  in  the  main  defective,  and  their 
severe  denunciations  and  personal  criminations  wholly  unjusti- 
fiable. 

Certain  utterances  in  the  above  excerpt  have  an  al- 
most prophetic  significance.  They  suggest  what  might 
have  been.  But  for  the  unhappy  events  of  1844,  the 
Methodist  Church  could  no  doubt  have  found  some 
amicable  and  generally  acceptable  plan  to  free  itself  not 
only  from  the  incidental  embarrassments  but  also  from 
the  fact  of  slavery.  But,  again,  what  profit  is  there  in 
this  reflection?  History  has  made  itself  otherwise. 
However,  there  was  then  with  the  majority  of  Metho- 
dists, and  more  especially  with  its  great  leaders,  North 
and  South,  a  sense  of  sanity,  frankness,  and  sincerity 
that  expressed  a  principle  of  life  and  action.  That 
principle  lived  through  the  days  of  strife  and  lives  to- 
day. It  was  embodied  at  that  time  in  its  chief  exponent, 
Joshua  Soule,  and  remained  so  embodied  to  the  end  of 
his  illustrious  life.  The  division  of  Methodism  was 
fairly  the  fault  of  both  sections,  and  its  cure  must  come 
as  the  result  of  sacrifices  made  by  each. 

By  1840  plans  were  laid  and  completed  for  holding 
a  Methodist  abolition  convention.  It  assembled  in  New 
York  City,  and  was  very  largely  attended ;  but  within 
a  year  or  two  the  extremists  found  that  the  Church 
was,  as  a  whole,  still  out  of  sympathy  with  their  doc- 
trines. In  1842  the  American  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Church  was  organized  by  the  New  England  leaders  of 
the  abolition  movement.    The  doctrines  of  this  Church 


212  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

were  those  of  the  parent  Methodism,  but  no  slavehold- 
er could  be  an  officer  or  even  a  member  of  it.  As  was 
true  of  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church  in  its  incip- 
ient stages,  the  newly  established  communion  drew  off 
a  large  element  of  disturbance,  and  for  a  time  the  whole 
Methodist  connection  wore  an  aspect  of  peace ;  but  al- 
though that  peace  was  accentuated  by  widespread  re- 
vivals and  phenomenal  gains  in  Church  membership, 
it  was  a  tranquillity  which  had  in  it  the  potencies  of 
disruption.  The  fruitfulness  was  in  the  less  disturbed 
sections,  while  the  diversion  of  the  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dist empiricists  was  disturbing  to  the  mind  of  many 
who  were  otherwise  inclined  to  quietness.  There  were 
now  multitudes  ready  to  be  incited  to  radical  demands 
where  before  they  had  accepted  official  advice  to  be  at 
peace.  Large  numbers  of  the  hitherto  passively  dis- 
posed clergy  had  come  to  the  point  where  a  radical 
leader  of  ability  could  move  them  to  cast  away  the  last 
vestige  of  conservatism.  Such  leaders,  even  scores  of 
such,  were  not  long  wanting. 

It  was  at  this  stage  of  sentiment  that  Bishop  Soule 
returned  from  his  transatlantic  visit  and  took  up  his 
work  in  the  Conferences. 

It  has  been  fitly  and  truthfully  said  concerning  the 
attitude  of  Bishop  Soule  in  the  controversy  of  1820-28 
that  "an  orderly  array  of  the  facts  is  his  vindication." 
That  rule  applies  to  his  conduct  at  every  stage  of  his 
history.  With  emphasis  it  applies  to  his  actions  and  ut- 
terances during  the  trying  period  now  under  review. 
The  negro  slave  had  no  truer  friend  nor  one  animated 
by  a  more  sincere  purpose  to  help  than  the  now  Senior 
Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Church.    In  the  General  Con- 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  213 

ference  of  1840  he  pleaded,  and  put  his  plea  into  offi- 
cial statement,  that  the  slave  member  of  the  Church 
be  held  a  Christian  brother,  and  that  his  word  and  pro- 
fession be  received  with  respect. 

But  it  was  not  to  the  American  plantation  slave  alone 
that  the  heart  of  this  apostolic  man  went  out.  The 
whole  African  race  was  to  him  an  object  of  solicitude. 
He  contemplated  the  pagan  bondage  of  the  children  of 
the  Dark  Continent,  and  saw  it  to  be  more  intolerable 
than  the  bondage  of  their  brethren  on  the  plantations  of 
the  South.  It  was  at  this  very  juncture  that  he  medi- 
tated and  even  devised  a  plan  for  making  himself  the 
apostle  to  Africa.  Though  with  no  longer  a  pledge 
of  health  before  him,  he  wished  to  give  some  of  his  re- 
maining strength  and  years  to  overseeing  and  building 
up  the  Church's  mission  in  Liberia  and  adjacent  parts. 
This  is  a  page  of  history  but  little  familiar  to  even  the 
greatest  admirers  of  Bishop  Soule  in  this  generation, 
and  one  which  was  long  since  lost  sight  of  by  those  who 
desired  to  judge  him  uncharitably ;  but  the  history  rests 
upon  indubitable  proof.  The  introduction  at  this  point 
of  an  official  letter,  the  autograph  original  of  which  is 
now  in  my  possession,  becomes  not  only  pertinent  but 
historically  logical.  The  writer  was  a  director  of  the 
Mission  Board  between  1840  and  1844: 

New  York,  January  12,  1843. 
Rev.  Bishop  Soule — My  Dear  Sir:  At  the  last  meeting  of  our 
Missionary  Board  it  was  resolved  that  it  was  inexpedient  to 
advise  you  to  visit  the  mission  in  Africa  at  the  present.  The 
Board  was  led  to  this  conclusion  from  the  belief  that  your 
health  would  greatly  suffer  from  an  exposure  to  the  climate  of 
that  country,  knowing  the  determination  you  had  formed  to 
remain  in  the  country  long  enough  fo  enable  you  to  become 


214  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

acquainted  with  the  state  of  the  work  within  the  borders  of 
the  Liberia  Mission. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Goheen  that  you  might  visit  Africa 
with  comparative  safety,  provided  you  would  consent  to  lodge 
nightly  on  board  of  some  vessel  at  anchor  off  the  shore. 

As  I  have  now  made  known  to  you  officially  the  action  of 
our  Board,  I  beg  to  express  my  sincere  thanks  for  the  con- 
clusion to  which  they  have  come.  Dr.  Goheen  told  me  that 
under  any  circumstances  you  might  have  an  attack  of  the 
fever,  and  that  your  good  constitution  might  enable  you  to 
return  home,  but  it  would  be  under  very  distressing  circum- 
stances, as  you  would  in  all  probability  be  disabled  for  life 
from  active  service.    .    .    . 

One  or  two  letters  addressed  to  you  while  in  Europe  have 
been  returned  to  me.  One  I  handed  to  Brother  Lane;  the 
other  I  hold,  waiting  your  instructions.  It  is  postmarked 
''Lebanon,  Sept.  26." 

With  our  united  regards  to  you,  Mrs.  Soule,  and  family,  I 
remain 

Yours  very  truly,  Francis  Hall. 

Thus  it  appears  that  his  known  feebleness  and  the 
contrary  advice  of  Dr.  Goheen,  the  Board's  medical 
missionary  in  Liberia,  alone  prevented  Bishop  Soule 
from  going,  in  1843,  t0  the  African  shores.  This  his- 
tory throws  a  light  of  much  significance  upon  the  para- 
graph in  the  Episcopal  Address  of  1840  which  refers 
to  the  African  Mission.  That  paragraph,  as  the  en- 
tire Address  beside,  came  from  the  pen  and  heart  of 
Joshua  Soule.    It  read : 

To  Africa  we  look  with  the  deepest  solicitude.  Our  sym- 
pathies, prayers,  and  efforts  mingle  on  her  coasts.  In  our 
missionary  enterprise  commenced  at  Liberia  we  aim  at  the 
conversion  of  a  continent  to  God.  The  handful  of  precious 
seed  which  has  been  sown  in  that  infant  colony  and  watered 
by  the  tears  and  prayers  of  the  missionaries  and  the  Church 


Where  Tzvo  Seas  Met.  215 

shall  spring  up  and  ripen,  to  be  sown  again  with  a  hundred- 
fold increase,  till  Africa  shall  become  one  fruitful  field,  culti- 
vated in  righteousness.  Although  a  number  of  faithful  and 
devoted  missionaries  have  fallen  in  that  held  of  labor,  we 
should  by_  no  means  be  discouraged  in  the  prosecution  of  so 
great  a  work.  They  have  fallen  askep,  but  they  sleep  in  the 
Lord.  And  being  dead,  they  still  speak;  and  the  voice  from 
their  tombs  is  a  call  to  the  Church  of  Christ  on  the  American 
Continent  to  emulate  their  holy  zeal  and  fill  up  the  ranks  from 
which  they  have  been  removed. 

Since  Melville  B.  Cox,  the  Virginian,  in  1832  gave 
himself  to  Africa,  too  soon  to  sanctify  its  soil  with  his 
dust,  the  eye  and  thought  of  the  New  Englander  had 
not  ceased  to  turn  that  way.  Had  he  been  permitted  by 
the  Mission  Board  to  carry  out  his  wish,  he  would  have 
been  absent  from  the  General  Conference  of  1844. 
What  had  been  the  consequences  of  that  absence  ? 

By  the  death  of  Bishop  Roberts,  which  event  oc- 
curred early  in  1843,  Soule  became  the  Senior  Bishop 
of  the  Church,  and  there  devolved  upon  him  the  duty 
of  providing  for  the  Conference  presidencies  thus  made 
vacant.  In  May  he  dispatched  a  letter  to  Bishop  An- 
drew assigning  several  of  the  same  to  him.  The  re- 
mainder he  took  himself  or  apportioned  them  amongst 
himself  and  his  other  three  colleagues.  In  November 
he  was  at  the  Mississippi  Conference,  as  also  at  other 
Southern  and  some  Western  sittings ;  but  as  the  Min- 
utes of  those  years  do  not  give  the  same  clew  to  the 
Conference  presidencies  as  do  the  modern  journals,  I 
am  unable  to  trace  his  itinerary  with  certainty.  Except 
for  periodical  attacks  of  asthma,  his  health  continued 
good,  and  his  old-time  record  for  hard  work  was  main- 
tained. 


216  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

With  the  round  of  the  autumn  and  spring  Confer- 
ences finished,  the  General  Conference  of  1844  was  in 
sight.  Although  he  had  taken  full  account  of  the  drift 
of  Northern  and  Eastern  public  opinion  since  his  re- 
turn from  Europe,  Soule  did  not  seem  to  apprehend  the 
possibility  of  a  cataclysm  as  the  result  of  the  debates 
admittedly  certain  to  be  joined  at  the  coming  session. 
But  he  was  warned  by  his  colleague,  Bishop  Andrew, 
to  be  prepared  for  the  worst.  "The  state  of  the 
Church,"  wrote  Andrew,  "afflicts  me.  The  abolition 
excitement,  I  fear,  has  never  presented  an  aspect  so 
threatening  to  the  union  of  the  Church  as  it  does  at  this 
moment.  ...  I  look  forward  to  the  next  General 
Conference  with  no  little  apprehension."  But  wise, 
diffident,  and  unobtrusive  as  wras  this  prophet,  he  little 
dreamed  that  he,  of  all  men,  should  be  the  occasion 
and  center  of  a  contention  whose  effect  would  be — to 
use  the  mathematical  language  of  Dr.  Buckley — to 
leave  to  Methodism  "a  bisected  Church."  The  forces 
soon  to  clash  cannot  better  be  described  than  by  the  use 
of  the  misallied  categoricals,  the  "irresistible"  and  the 
"immovable."  The  determinative  in  the  issue  was  not 
a  matter  primarily  of  religious  conviction,  nor  predom- 
inantly of  ethical  ideals.  Whatever  there  was  of  these, 
it  existed  largely  as  differences  of  interpretation.  At 
last  the  issue  was  ethnic  and  social.  So  long  as  these 
latter  sentiments  were  left  out  of  the  contest  there  was 
hope  of  an  ultimate  solution  through  the  Church's  cate- 
chetical and  administrative  channels.  Time  alone 
would  have  brought  the  conviction  and  mutual  under- 
standing necessary  to  quietly  abolish  slavery  as  had 
been  done  by  other  civilized  peoples.    But  wdien  the  po- 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  217 

litical  and  race  aspects  of  the  controversy  came  into 
view  and  were  accepted  as  a  major  content  of  the  ques- 
tion, a  settlement  was  hopeless.  To  that  extent  the 
events  of  1844  were  the  offspring  of  fate  or  fortuity. 

The  General  Conference  of  1844  met  m  Greene 
Street  Church,  New  York,  on  May  1,  and  adjourned 
about  the  hour  of  1  a.m.  June  II,  having  been  in  ses- 
sion somewhat  more  than  forty  days.  In  ability,  ex- 
perience, and  skill  in  parliamentary  matters  the  body 
was  as  marked  as  the  questions  it  was  called  upon  to 
handle  were  important.  The  leaders  on  both  sides 
were,  or  had  been,  conservatives.  A  feeling  of  fore- 
boding, however,  possessed  the  body  from  its  opening 
session. 

A  number  of  memorials  on  the  subject  of  slavery 
were  before  the  Conference  during  the  first  week  of  its 
sitting.  These  were  referred  to  a  committee  instructed 
to  report  directly  and  without  delay  on  the  points  made 
by  the  memorialists.  However,  before  this  committee 
could  act  the  subject  of  slavery  was  brought  before  the 
Conference  in  a  concrete  form.  The  Rev.  F.  A.  Har- 
ding, of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  who  had  become 
connected  by  marriage  with  slavery,  had  failed  to  man- 
umit the  slaves,  and  for  this  reason  had  been  by  the  An- 
nual Conference  suspended  from  the  functions  of  the 
ministerial  office.  Exercising  the  right  of  appeal,  he 
caused  his  case  to  be  laid  before  the  General  Confer- 
ence and  asked  for  a  reversal  of  the  decision  of  the 
lower  court.  His  plea  for  annulment  of  judgment  was 
based  mainly  on  the  ground  of  the  rule  of  1816  which 
required  of  members  and  ministers  that  they  manumit 
their  slaves  in  States  where  the  statutes  permitted  such 


218  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

manumission  and  allowed  the  ex-slave  to  enjoy  his 
freedom.  The  State  of  Maryland  did  not  permit  man- 
umission. It  was  further  pleaded  that  the  slaves  would 
not,  or  had  not,  consented  to  removal  to  Liberia  or 
to  the  territory  of  a  nonslave  State  of  the  Union.  The 
discussion  of  this  case  extended  over  four  days;  and 
when  the  vote  was  finally  taken,  the  decision  of  the 
Baltimore  Conference  was  sustained :  Mr.  Harding  was 
left  suspended. 

The  effect  produced  upon  the  public  mind  of  the 
Church  by  the  reports  sent  out  covering  the  debates 
and  proceedings  in  the  Harding  case  was  exciting  in 
the  extreme.  In  the  South  the  news  brought  distress 
and  increased  foreboding ;  in  the  North  and  East  it  was 
generally  received  with  exultation.  But  there  were 
many  men  of  the  North  in  the  Conference  who  saw  the 
peril  ahead  and  joined  their  Southern  colleagues  in  a 
movement  to  avert  the  same.  The  ordinary  business 
and  legislation  of  the  session  were  almost  wholly  neg- 
lected, the  supreme  wish  being  to  save  the  ship.  On 
the  fifteenth  day  of  the  sitting  Dr.  Capers  and  Dr.  Olin 
joined  in  a  call  for  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  bish- 
ops as  to  the  possibility  of  adopting  a  plan  "for  the  per- 
manent pacification  of  the  Church."  Dr.  Olin,  though 
supporting  this  call,  saw  little  hope  for  pacification. 
He  did  "not  see  how  Northern  men  could  yield  their 
ground  or  Southern  men  give  up  theirs."  The  "irre- 
sistible" and  the  "immovable"  were  in  contact.  The 
law  of  the  Church  on  slavery  was  no  longer  accepted 
as  a  reason  by  the  majority,  and  the  minority  would 
never  tolerate  a  violation  of  it.  The  law  represented 
the  convictions  of  the  minority,  but  it  no  longer  repre- 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  219 

sented  the  sentiments  of  the  majority.  After  a  season 
of  fasting  and  prayer  and  after  much  deliberation,  the 
committee  on  May  18  reported  that  no  plan  of  com- 
promise or  agreement  could  be  devised.  The  ship  was 
driving,  and  the  elements  were  growing  more  threaten- 
ing on  both  bows. 

Two  days  later,  on  the  20th,  the  beginning  of  the 
end  was  entered  upon.  Bishop  Andrew,  through  cir- 
cumstances too  well  known  to  every  intelligent  Meth- 
odist reader  to  need  rehearsing  here,  had  become  con- 
nected with  slavery.  The  case  bore  the  exact  features 
of  that  of  Mr.  Harding.  Moreover,  the  laws  of  Geor- 
gia were  practically  the  same  as  those  of  Maryland. 
Under  the  circumstances  Bishop  Andrew  considered 
the  slaves  in  his  care  as  part  of  his  household;  and 
since  to  manumit  them  was  to  send  them  into  exile,  to 
which  they  would  not  consent,  he  could  but  leave  them 
to  his  wife  as  a  matter  of  mercy  and  human  kindness. 

Under  a  motion  made  by  Mr.  Collins  and  sustained 
by  a  majority  vote  of  the .  Conference,  the  Committee 
on  Episcopacy  was  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  facts 
of  Bishop  Andrew's  relations  to  slavery.  The  commit- 
tee reported  back  to  the  Conference  on  May  21,  sub- 
mitting a  statement  from  Bishop  Andrew,  in  substance 
as  given  above.  There  was  no  plea  accompanying  this 
statement.  He  was  a  bishop  in  the  Church,  but  the  law 
of  the  Church  protected  alike  the  general  superintend- 
ent and  the  humblest  member.  He  stood  silently  on 
that  law,  by  means  of  which  the  connection  had  been 
held  together  from  the  beginning.  There  was  no 
charge  brought  or  even  insinuated  against  him;  his 
character  was  spotless.    Dr.  Stephen  Olin,  a  most  capa- 


220  Life  of  Joshua  Sonic. 

ble  judge,  said  on  the  Conference  floor:  "If  there  ever 
was  a  man  worthy  to  fill  the  episcopal  office  by  his  dis- 
interestedness, his  love  of  the  Church,  his  ardent,  melt- 
ing sympathy  for  all  the  interests  of  humanity,  but, 
above  all,  by  his  unreserved  and  uncompromising  ad- 
vocacy of  the  interests  of  the  slaves — if  these  are  the 
qualifications  for  the  office  of  a  bishop,  then  James  O. 
Andrew  is  preeminently  fitted  to  hold  the  office.  I 
know  no  man  who  has  been  so  bold  an  advocate  of  the 
interests  of  the  slaves;  and  when  I  have  been  con- 
strained to  refrain  from  saying  what  perhaps  I  should 
have  said  (to  the  owners  of  slaves),  I  have  heard  him 
at  camp  meetings  and  on  other  public  occasions  call 
fearlessly  on  masters  to  see  to  the  temporal  and  spir- 
itual interests  of  their  slaves  as  a  high  Christian  duty." 
On  May  22  Alfred  Griffith  introduced  a  resolution 
calling  on  Bishop  Andrew  to  resign  his  office.  In  the 
absence  of  a  charge,  Mr.  Griffith  advanced  the  doc- 
trine that  a  bishop  is  simply  an  officer  of  the  General 
Conference,  and  that  the  Conference  can  demand  his 
resignation  without  assigning  a  reason  therefor.  That 
theory  became  popular  during  subsequent  debates,  and 
was  strongly  supported  by  Dr.  (afterwards  Bishop) 
Hamline  and  others.  With  Griffith  it  was  a  survival 
and  development  from  the  radicalism  engendered  by 
the  debates  on  the  "suspended  resolutions"  in  the  Gen- 
eral Conferences  of  1820  and  1824.  Quite  vividly  were 
the  scenes  of  those  early  days  recalled  when,  at  the 
close  of  Mr.  Griffith's  speech  and  amid  a  profound  sen- 
sation in  the  Conference  room,  Bishop  Soule  arose 
and,  claiming  the  right  to  address  the  body,  uttered 
these   characteristic   words:     "I   rise,   sir,   seeing   no 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  221 

other  speaker  on  the  floor,  and,  I  assure  you  and 
the  Conference,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  with  as  per- 
fect calmness  of  spirit  as  I  ever  remember  to  have 
possessed  at  any  period  of  my  life.  I  cannot  and 
I  need  not  conceal  from  you,  sir,  or  from  this  Gen- 
eral Conference  that  since  the  commencement  of  this 
session  I  have  been  the  subject  of  deep  mental  dis- 
tress and  agony.  But  in  this  respect  the  season  of 
my  bitterness  has  passed  away.  Conscious  that  I  have 
pursued,  with  close  thought  and  prayer,  such  a  course 
as  was  within  my  power  to  harmonize  the  brethren  and 
to  strengthen,  if  possible,  the  peace  and  unity  of  this 
body  and  of  the  whole  Church,  I  have  calmly  submit- 
ted the  whole  matter  to  the  overruling  and  superintend- 
ing providence  of  Almighty  God.  I  stand  connected 
with  this  subject  individually,  and  in  connection  with 
my  colleagues,  in  a  truly  peculiar  way;  but  I  have 
at  this  period  no  personal  interest  whatever  in  the  mat- 
ter. I  am,  I  assure  you,  willing,  entirely  willing,  so 
far  as  I  am  myself  concerned,  to  be  immolated;  but  I 
can  be  immolated  on  only  one  altar,  and  that  is  the 
altar  of  the  union  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
You  cannot,  all  the  powers  of  earth  cannot,  immo- 
late me  upon  a  Northern  altar  or  a  Southern  altar. 
Here  I  take  my  stand,  my  position.  But  I  did  not  rise, 
with  the  indulgence  of  this  body,  this  morning  even  to 
touch  the  merits  of  the  question  now  before  this  body. 
It  would  ill  become  me  in  the  relation  I  sustain  to  this 
body  and  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  do  it. 
But  I  have  risen  to  suggest  to  the  Conference  some 
considerations  which  I  hope  may  have  their  influence 
upon  the  mode  of  conducting  this  weighty  concern.     I 


222  Life  of  Joshua  Soulc. 

speak  to  men  of  God,  to  men  of  experience,  to  men  who 
have  analyzed  the  elements  of  human  nature  and  of  ec- 
clesiastical and  civil  polity,  to  men  of  thought,  who 
have  been  accustomed  to  trace  causes  and  their  effects 
through  all  the  diversified  forms  of  human  society.  I 
speak  to  Christian  men  and  Christian  ministers ;  I 
speak  to  young  men  who  have  not  had  the  same  time  as 
the  aged  nor  the  same  opportunities  from  experience 
and  observation  to  grasp  fully  these  great  and  interest- 
ing subjects.  I  trust  I  shall  hear  on  the  floor  of  this 
Conference  the  voice  of  age  and  of  experience ;  and  I 
beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  deepest  interests  that  can 
affect  our  beloved  Zion — I  beseech  you  by  a  voice  from 
the  tomb  of  a  Wesley  and  a  beloved  Asbury,  and  from 
the  sleeping  places  of  our  venerated  fathers,  to  let  your 
spirits  on  this  occasion  be  perfectly  calm  and  self-pos- 
sessed and  perfectly  deliberate.  I  advise,  in  the  place 
in  which  I  stand,  that  the  younger  men  hear  the  voice 
of  age.  I  beg  you,  brethren,  to  remember  that  you 
stand  at  this  moment  before  several  tribunals.  You  are 
before  (I  speak  to  the  General  Conference)  a  tribunal 
in  the  galleries ;  and  whatever  view  you  may  take  of 
this  subject,  if  they  cannot  judge  of  the  merits  of  the 
case  before  you,  such  are  their  enlightened  ideas  of 
what  belongs  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  the  office 
of  Christian  ministers  that  they  will  sit  in  judgment  on 
you.  I  would  also  observe  here  that,  as  a  great  branch 
of  the  Protestant  Christian  community,  our  position  in 
regard  to  this  subject  is  unique  and  distinguished  from 
all  other  branches  of  that  community.  So  far  as  I 
know,  there  is  not  a  single  sister  (Protestant)  Church 
in  these  United  States  or  in  the  world  having  any  legis^ 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  223 

lation  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  I  say  in  this  we  are 
unique,  we  are  alone.  We  therefore  stand  in  our  action 
on  this  subject  before  the  tribunal  of  all  the  Christian 
Churches  of  our  own  land,  and  our  actions  will  certain- 
ly be  judged  of  by  that  tribunal.  We  act  here  also  in 
the  capacity  of  a  General  Conference,  and  everything 
we  do  here  is  to  go  out  before  the  whole  body  of 
ministers  and  people  whom  we  here  represent ;  it  is  to 
go  out  in  the  face  of  the  whole  Church,  and  they  will 
judge  with  respect  to  our  action  in  the  premises.  We 
are,  too,  before  the  tribunal  of  public  opinion,  and 
statesmen,  civilians,  and  jurists  have  an  interest  in  this 
matter;  and  they  will  judge  us  on  other  grounds  and  in 
reference  to  our  standards  and  rules  of  action,  and  not 
as  we  shall  be  judged  by  the  great  mass.  They  will 
judge  by  the  rules  of  the  'book,'  according  as  our  ac- 
tion is  founded  on  facts  and  is  in  accordance  with  the 
rules  of  that  book  which  contains  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  Church." 

Following  the  address  of  Bishop  Soule,  a  number  of 
speeches  were  made  on  the  Griffith  motion,  which  pro- 
posed to  secure  Bishop  Andrew's  resignation  from  of- 
fice not  on  legal  grounds,  but  on  those  of  expediency. 
These  speeches  came  from  both  sides,  from  Southern 
and  Northern  men  in  about  equal  numbers.  At  the  close 
of  the  debate  on  the  Griffith  motion,  the  radicals  prac- 
tically admitted  defeat  in  the  argument  by  abandoning 
the  demand  for  the  Bishop's  resignation  and  asking  in 
a  substitute  offered  by  Finley  that  he  "desist  from  the 
exercise  of  this  [the  episcopal]  office  so  long  as  this 
impediment  [of  slavery]  remains." 

Bishop  Andrew  would  no  doubt  have  resigned  ex- 


224  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

cept  for  the  unanimous  protest  of  the  Southern  dele- 
gates, who  felt  that  such  a  course  would  " jeopardize 
the  unity  of  the  Church."  From  no  point  of  view  did 
they  see  a  promise  of  help  in  the  removal  or  retirement 
of  Bishop  Andrew  from  office.  Nor  was  agreement 
possible  with  the  case  left  in  status  quo.  Vainly  the 
moderates  hoped  to  achieve  a  victory  that  would  divide 
itself — half  to  the  one,  half  to  the  other.  The  majority 
was  only  logical,  if  still  unjust. 

The  effect  of  the  original  resolution  and  the  substi- 
tute was  the  same — namely,  to  deprive  Bishop  Andrew 
of  his  office  without  form  of  trial.  Upon  the  submis- 
sion of  the  substitute  followed  a  debate  which  for  bril- 
liancy and  forensic  circumstance,  it  is  believed,  has 
never  been  surpassed,  even  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States.  Particularly  noteworthy  were  the  contribu- 
tions made  to  it  by  George  F.  Pierce  and  Jesse  T.  Peck, 
both  young  men  and  both  afterwards  called  to  the  epis- 
copacy. Near  the  end  of  this  series  of  brilliant  ora- 
tions (for  they  were  that  rather  than  convincing  argu- 
ments) and  at  what  his  venerable  judgment  considered 
the  psychological  moment,  Bishop  Soule  again  inter- 
vened with  an  utterance  which,  to  my  mind,  is  so  mas- 
terful a  resume  of  the  points  and  relations  of  ethics  and 
jurisprudence  involved  that  it  may  be  compared  with 
the  constitutional  papers  of  our  greatest  statesmen. 
The  Bishop  said  in  part:  "I  desire  that  no  undue  in- 
fluence may  be  produced  from  the  peculiar  relation  in 
which  I  stand  to  the  Church.  Sympathy  may  exert 
too  great  an  influence  when  it  is  brought  to  bear  on 
great  principles.  The  only  subject  which  has  awak- 
ened my  sympathies  during  this  whole  discussion  is 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  225 

the  condition  of  my  suffering  brethren  of  the  colored 
race,  and  this  never  fails  to  do  it.  No  matter  where  I 
meet  the  man  of  color,  whether  in  the  South  or  in  the 
Xorth,  with  the  amount  of  liberty  he  enjoys,  the  sym- 
pathies of  my  nature  are  all  awakened  for  him.  Could 
I  restore  bleeding  Africa  to  freedom,  to  independence, 
to  the  rights — to  all  the  rights — of  man,  I  would  most 
gladly  do  it.  But  this  I  cannot  do,  you  cannot  do. 
And  if  I  cannot  burst  the  bonds  of  the  colored  man,  I 
will  not  strengthen  them.  If  I  cannot  extend  to  him  all 
the  good  I  would,  I  will  never  shut  him  out  from  the 
benefits  which  I  have  it  in  my  power  to  bestow.  .  .  . 
I  wish  to  say  explicitly  that  if  the  superintendents  are 
to  be  regarded  only  as  the  officers  of  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  conse- 
quently, as  officers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
liable  to  be  deposed  at  will  by  a  simple  majority  of  this 
body,  without  a  form  of  trial,  no  obligation  existing 
growing  out  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the 
Church,  even  to  assign  cause  wherefore — I  say,  if  this 
doctrine  be  a  correct  one,  everything  I  have  to  say 
hereafter  is  powerless  and  falls  to  the  ground.  But 
brethren  will  permit  me  to  say,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
although  I  have  had  the  honor  and  the  privilege  to  be 
a  member  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ever  since  its  present  organization, 
though  I  was  honored  with  a  seat  in  the  convention  of 
ministers  which  organized  it,  in  this  respect  I  have 
heard  for  the  first  time,  either  on  the  floor  of  this  Con- 
ference, in  an  Annual  Conference,  or  through  the 
whole  of  the  private  membership,  this  doctrine  ad- 
vanced ;  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever  heard  it.  Of  course 
15 


226  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

it  struck  me  as  a  novelty.  I  am  not  going  to  enter  the 
arena  of  controversy  with  this  Conference.  I  desire 
that  my  position  may  be  defined.  I  desire  to  under- 
stand my  landmarks  as  a  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  not  the  bishop  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence, not  the  bishop  of  any  Annual  Conference.  .  .  . 
Well,  brethren,  I  had  conceived,  I  had  understood  from 
the  beginning  that  special  provision  was  made  for  the 
trial  of  a  bishop.  The  constitution  has  provided  that 
no  preacher,  no  person  was  to  be  deprived  of  the  right 
of  trial,  according  to  the  forms  of  Discipline,  and  of 
the  right  of  appeal;  but,  sir,  if  I  understand  the  doc- 
trine advanced  and  vindicated,  it  is  that  you  may  de- 
pose a  bishop  without  the  form  of  trial;  you  may  de- 
pose him  without  any  obligation  to  show  cause,  and 
therefore  he  is  the  only  minister  in  your  Church  who 
has  no  appeal.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  Church  has 
made  special  provision  for  the  trial  of  the  bishop,  for 
the  special  reason  that  the  bishop  has  no  appeal.  Well, 
now,  sir,  I  make  these  observations,  as  I  said,  only  to 
the  ear  of  reason.  You  will  remember  that  this  whole 
thing  is  going  out  before  the  world  as  well  as  the 
Church.  I  wish  to  know  my  landmarks,  to  find  out 
where  I  stand ;  for,  indeed,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  to 
you  that  if  my  standing  and  the  relation  in  which  I 
have  been  placed  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
under  my  solemn  vows  of  ordination,  if  my  relation  is 
to  stand  on  the  voice  of  a  simple  majority  of  this  body, 
without  a  form  of  trial  and  without  an  obligation  even 
to  show  me  cause  why  I  am  deposed,  I  have  some 
doubt  whether  there  is  the  man  on  this  floor  that  would 
be  willing  to  stand  in  my  place.    Now,  brethren  will  at 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  227 

once  perceive  the  peculiar  situation  in  which  I  am 
placed.  Here  are  my  brethren  from  the  Ohio  and  oth- 
er Conferences.  We  have  been  together  in  great  har- 
mony and  peace.  There  has  been  great  union  of  spirit 
everywhere,  but  I  said  at  the  beginning  there  were  peri- 
ods in  the  history  of  every  man  occupying  any  impor- 
tant relation  or  station  in  society  when  his  individual 
character  and  influence  could  not  be  neutralized  by  the 
laws  of  association.  You  must  unmoor  me  from  my 
anchorage  on  the  basis  of  this  book ;  you  must  unsettle 
me  from  my  principles,  my  settled  and  fixed  princi- 
ples. From  these  I  cannot  be  shaken  by  any  influences 
on  my  right  hand  or  on  my  left  hand;  neither  the  zeal 
of  youth  nor  the  experience  of  hoary  age  shall  move 
me  from  my  principles.  Convince  me  that  I  am  wrong, 
and  I  yield.  .  .  .  The  adoption  of  that  resolution  de- 
poses Bishop  Andrew,  without  form  of  trial ;  such  is  my 
deliberate  opinion.  I  do  not  believe  it  is  safe  for  our 
community  ;  I  do  not  believe  it  is  safe  for  you  ;  and  I  am 
out  of  this  question.  What  shall  be  done  ?  The  ques- 
tion, I  know,  wakes  up  the  attention  of  every  brother. 
Can  it  be  possible  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
is  in  such  a  state  of  excitement — in  such  a  state,  I  had 
almost  said,  of  revolution — as  to  be  unprepared  to  send 
out  the  plain,  simple  facts  in  the  case  to  the  Churches, 
to  the  Annual  Conferences,  everywhere  through  our 
community,  and  waive  all  action  on  this  subject  till  an- 
other General  Conference?  .  .  .  And  now,  in  tak- 
ing leave,  I  ofTer  devout  prayer  to  Almighty  God  that 
you  may  be  directed  wisely  in  the  decision  you  are 
about  to  make.  I  have  given  to  you  what,  in  my  sober 
and  deliberate  judgment,  is  the  best  and  safest  course 


228  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

which  you  can  pursue — safest  for  all  concerned.  I 
want  that  opinion  to  have  no  more  influence  upon  you 
than  it  justly  deserves  in  the  Conferences,  all  the  Con- 
ferences. I  thank  the  Conference  for  the  attention 
they  have  been  pleased  to  give  me.  I  thank  the  audi- 
ence for  their  attention.  I  very  well  know,  I  am  not  at 
all  unapprised,  that  the  position  I  occupy,  in  which  I 
stand  on  the  principles  of  that  resolution — on  the  prin- 
ciples involved  in  it — may  seal  my  fate.  I  say  I  am  not 
all  unapprised  of  that.  Let  me  go  ;  but  I  pray  you,  hold 
to  principles — to  principles.  And  with  these  remarks 
I  submit  the  whole  to  your  and  God's  direction. 
Amen." 

The  exciting  and  disturbing  debate  held  through  sev- 
eral days.  "So  far  from  developing  any  plan  of  pa- 
cification," says  Dr.  Gross  Alexander  in  his  interesting 
study  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Conference,  "the  de- 
bate developed  decided  differences  of  view  between  the 
Northern  and  Southern  delegates  concerning  funda- 
mental questions  of  Church  polity  and  law,  in  particu- 
lar concerning  the  constitutional  powers  of  the  Gener- 
al Conference  and  the  tenure  of  office  of  the  bishops, 
or,  more  broadly,  the  relation  of  the  episcopal  office  to 
the  government  of  Episcopal  Methodism." 

It  seemed  for  a  time  that  the  substitute  was  destined 
to  meet  the  same  fate  as  the  original  motion — that  it 
was  never  to  be  put  to  a  vote.  The  previous  question 
was  called,  but  the  call  was  not  sustained.  At  this 
juncture  Bishop  Hedding  came  forward  and  proposed 
that  a  conference  be  held  between  the  bishops  and  the 
committee  of  Northern  and  Southern  delegates.  The 
suggestion  was  hailed  with  hope.    The  bishops  were  giv- 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  229 

en,  by  consent,  powers  plenipotentiary.  On  May  31 
they  reported  the  results  of  their  conference.  They  rec- 
ommended a  suspension  of  all  action  in  Bishop  An- 
drew's case  until  the  General  Conference  of  1848  and 
the  employment  of  Bishop  Andrew  in  the  meantime 
only  "in  those  sections  of  the  Church  in  which  his 
presence  and  services  would  be  welcome  and  cordial." 

Before  any  action  could  be  taken  on  this  recom- 
mendation, Bishop  Hedding  withdrew  his  name,  be- 
cause, as  it  has  since  been  affirmed,  the  New  England 
contingent  threatened  to  secede  from  the  connection 
should  Bishop  Andrew  be  left  in  the  bishopric.  Bish- 
ops Waugh  and  Morris  desired  their  names  to  remain. 
Bishop  Soule  wished  the  document,  with  his  name  at- 
tached to  it,  "to  go  forth  through  a  thousand  channels 
to  the  world."  Another  futile  effort  or  two  being  made 
to  adopt  the  Bishops'  report  as  a  compromise,  the  pre- 
vious question  was  called  "amid  profound  silence"  and 
carried  by  a  vote  of  in  to  69.  Bishop  Andrew  had 
been  requested  to  suspend  himself  from  the  office  of 
bishop. 

A  motion  to  construe  the  action  as  advisory  and  not 
mandatory  was  sent  to  the  table.  Excitement  rose 
steadily ;  and  it  having  appeared  to  the  Southern  dele- 
gates that  the  limit  of  passivity  had  been  reached,  but 
inspired  by  a  purpose  to  lay  a  sure  foundation  for  their 
feet,  they  met  and  formulated  a  protest  against  the  ac- 
tion of  the  majority  as  subversive  of  the  law  of  the 
Church  and  contrary  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  justice. 
This  document  was  written  by  Dr.  H.  B.  Bascom,  and 
is  noteworthy  in  a  record  filled  with  noteworthy  utter- 
ances.    It  may  in  some  true  and  proper  sense  be  re- 


230  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

garded  as  the  history-granted  charter  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South,  and,  as  its  writer  and  spon- 
sors believed,  a  restoration  in  spirit  and  letter  of  the 
original  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  a  ti- 
tle which  ceased  to  have  legal  significance  in  1796. 

On  June  5  the  Southern  delegates  submitted  a  dec- 
laration to  the  effect  that  the  continued  agitation  of 
the  subject  of  slavery  and  abolition  and  the  extra  ju- 
dicial proceedings  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  "must 
produce  a  state  of  things  in  the  South  which  renders 
a  continuance  of  the  jurisdiction  of  this  General  Con- 
ference over  these  Conferences  inconsistent  with  the 
success  of  the  ministry  in  the  slave-holding  States." 
This  was  meant  to  discover  the  state  of  mind  in  the 
Northern  wing  of  the  Conference.  Had  those  breth- 
ren found  it  desirable  to  see  the  Church  divided  rather 
than  agree  to  a  compromise  ? 

Dr.  Elliott  moved  the  reference  of  the  "declaration" 
to  a  committee  which  should,  failing  to  find  any  other 
solution,  report,  "if  possible,  a  constitutional  plan  for 
a  mutual  and  friendly  division  of  the  Church."  In  due 
time  this  committee  reported  the  historic  "Plan  of  Sep- 
aration/' the  constitutionality  of  which  was  subse- 
quently fully  established  by  the  civil  courts.  For  the 
text  of  it  the  reader  is  referred  to  some  general  Church 
history.  It  provided  for  the  division  of  the  Church  on 
territorial  lines,  and  also  for  distribution  of  the  money 
and  assets  of  the  Book  Concern  and  the  Chartered 
Fund  on  the  basis  of  Church  and  ministerial  member- 
ship. 

The  Plan  of  Separation,  when  submitted  to  the  Con- 
ference, was  adopted  by  a  majority  ranging  from  135 


Where  Two  Seas  Met.  231 

to  153  on  the  several  resolutions,  against  18  to  13  vot- 
ing in  the  negative.  Before  the  adjournment  of  the 
Conference,  which  occurred  two  days  later,  Bishop 
Soule  for  himself  and  his  colleagues  asked  instructions 
from  the  Conference  as  to  whether  Bishop  Andrew's 
name  should  appear  in  the  official  books  of  the  Church 
as  a  bishop,  if  he  should  receive  a  bishop's  stipend,  and 
what  work,  if  any,  should  be  assigned  him.  The  Con- 
ference instructed  that  his  name  should  stand  in  the 
official  publications,  and  that  he  should  receive  a  bish- 
op's allowance.  On  the  last  point  the  response  was  am- 
biguous, but  seemed  to  put  the  responsibility  on  Bish- 
op Andrew.  Thus  closed  the  memorable  General  Con- 
ference of  1844.  There  were  aching  hearts  in  the  bos- 
oms of  thousands,  but  none  ached  as  did  that  great 
heart  in  the  bosom  of  the  Senior  Bishop  of  Methodism. 
He  stood  now  where  tzvo  seas  met.  He  was  in  heavi- 
ness, but  not  for  himself.  He  knew  what  he  should 
do — follow  the  one  star  which  had  led  him  through 
his  changeful  years :  loyalty  to  conviction  and  duty. 
"Duty  had  a  charm  for  him  that  no  suffering  could  ob- 
scure." He  saw  that  he  must  soon  choose  his  course — 
it  was  already  chosen.  But  it  was  not  to  be  the  South 
against  the  North,  nor  the  South  for  its  own  sake.  He 
had  chosen  Methodism  in  his  youth ;  it  was  Metho- 
dism, as  he  interpreted  it,  that  he  was  now  set  to  fol- 
low through  all.  The  late  Dr.  Summers,  in  consid- 
ering this  purpose  of  his,  said :  "Perhaps  no  man  was 
ever  more  thoroughly  attached  to  the  Methodist  sys- 
tem of  doctrine  and  discipline  than  Joshua  Soule.  He 
loved  Methodism  because  of  its  grand  scriptural  char- 
acter, its  aggressive  power,  and  its  diffusive  spirit.    He 


232  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

loved  its  simple  theology,  its  sublime  psalmody,  its  de- 
cent forms — for  which,  indeed,  he  was  somewhat  of  a 
stickler — and  its  elevated  standards  of  experimental 
and  practical  piety.  His  own  personal  religious  char- 
acter was  formed  upon  it.  And  when  he  drew  near  his 
end,  he  rejoiced  in  the  belief  that  it  was  renewing  its 
youth  and  going  forth  afresh,  like  a  strong  man  to  run 
a  race,  and  bequeathed  to  the  Church  his  dying  testi- 
mony in  favor  of  its  truth  and  power.  He  told  us  es- 
pecially and  emphatically  on  his  dying  bed  that  he  con- 
sidered the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  as  the 
fairest  and  fullest  exponent  of  Methodism  now  in  ex- 
istence." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
Cavalier  and  Puritan. 

Nobody  believed  after  the  close  of  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1844  m  the  possibility  of  the  continued  uni- 
ty of  American  Episcopal  Methodism.  Not  only  were 
the  Southern  delegates  of  this  opinion,  but  they  felt  it 
a  necessity  and  a  duty  to  anticipate  action  on  the  part 
of  that  section  of  the  Church  which  they  represented. 
Accordingly,  in  a  meeting  held  immediately  following 
the  adjournment  of  the  General  Conference  they  pre- 
pared an  address  to  their  constituencies  in  which  it 
was  suggested  that  a  convention  be  called  to  meet  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  in  May,  1845,  t0  De  composed  of  dele- 
gates in  the  ratio  of  one  to  each  eleven  members  of  the 
Annual  Conferences.  The  address  advised  that  these 
delegates  be  fully  instructed  upon  all  the  points  on 
which  the  separate  constituencies  might  elect  to  have 
action  taken.  This  done,  the  Southerners  repaired  to 
their  homes. 

Wounded  and  smarting  under  the  action  of  the  ma- 
jority, Bishop  Andrew  also  returned  without  delay  to 
his  home,  in  Georgia.  Strong  and  masterful  man 
though  he  was,  he  was  doubtless  dazed  at  the  stu- 
pendous upheaval  of  which  he  was  the  center,  and  felt 
that  he  must  have  time  and  quiet  for  reflection.  These 
considerations  and  feelings  of  delicacy  kept  him  from 
attending  the  meeting  of  the  bishops  which  fell  soon 
after  in  New  York  City.    The  name  of  Bishop  Andrew 

(233) 


234  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

did  not  appear  on  the  published  list  of  episcopal  visita- 
tions, and  the  reason  for  this,  as  officially  given,  was 
that,  inasmuch  as  the  General  Conference  devolved  on 
Bishop  Andrew  himself  the  responsibility  of  deciding 
what,  if  any,  work  he  should  take,  the  other  superin- 
tendents could  not  without  his  verbal  or  written  re- 
quest assign  him  any  labor.  Two  plans,  however,  were 
piepared — one  given  to  the  public,  and  another,  called 
the  "reserved  plan,"  which  was  committed  to  Bishop 
Soule  for  safe  and  confidential  keeping.  This  "re- 
served plan"  was  to  replace  the  published  plan  only  in 
the  event  Bishop  Andrew  should  make  personal  appli- 
cation for  work,  or  signify  in  writing  his  willingness  to 
take  the  assignments.  The  original  of  this  paper  is  be- 
fore me.  With  the  exception  of  the  Indiana  Mission 
District,  the  Conferences  allotted  Bishop  Andrew  were 
exclusively  in  the  South,  which,  under  the  conditions 
existing,  was  a  perfectly  proper  arrangement.  Indeed,  in 
all  the  matters  dealt  with  by  the  bishops  at  this  time 
there  was  evidenced  the  most  genuine  desire  to  do  jus- 
tice and  serve  the  Church,  which  was  still  a  unity  so  far 
as  its  organization  and  oversight  were  concerned.  If 
this  spirit  had  been  maintained  by  all,  the  decision  for 
division,  when  it  did  come,  would,  in  the  language  of 
Bishop  Morris,  have  "disturbed  the  Church  no  more 
than  would  the  creation  of  a  new  Annual  Conference." 
There  were  not  wanting  on  both  sides  those  who  at  one 
time  hoped  that  a  common  episcopacy  might  serve  both 
divisions  of  Methodism.  How  futile  that  hope  was  is 
now  only  too  well  known. 

The  defective  point  in  the  scheme  for  a  reserved  plan 
of  visitation  was  that  Bishop  Andrew  was  not  official- 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  235 

ly  notified  of  it;  and  although  through  a  close  intimacy 
with  Bishop  Soule  he  learned  the  facts,  he  could  not 
accept  the  information  as  warranting  a  formal  com- 
munication. He  had  been  put  by  both  the  General 
Conference  and  the  bishops  in  the  attitude  of  a  re- 
spondent, and  could  act  worthily  and  creditably  only 
on  their  initiative.  Against  the  exclusion  of  Bishop 
Andrew  from  the  published  list  of  visitations  Bishop 
Soule  entered  a  strong  protest.  Bishop  Morris  was 
also  disinclined  to  allow  the  justness  of  the  act,  but 
yielded  because  of  the  action  taken  by  the  General  Con- 
ference. 

Bishop  Andrew  did  not — he  could  not — apply  for 
work.  He  was  entitled  to  it  on  the  basis  of  his  epis- 
copacy ;  but  it  must  be  allowed  that  the  majority  of  his 
colleagues  felt  a  conscientious  constraint  in  view  of 
the  aforesaid  action  of  the  General  Conference,  though 
several  of  them  believed  that  action  unwarranted. 
With  the  courage  and  frankness  characteristic  of  him 
in  all  things,  Bishop  Soule  invited  Bishop  Andrew  to 
join  him  at  the  sittings  of  those  Conferences  over  which 
he  had  been  named  to  preside.  This  invitation  Bishop 
Andrew  so  far  accepted  as  to  meet  his  venerable  col- 
league at  the  Kentucky  Conference  in  September.  Aft- 
er the  session  of  that  body,  however,  he  turned  east- 
ward. 

The  Kentucky  Conference,  being  the  first  of  the 
Southern  sittings  for  the  year,  indorsed  the  call  for  the 
proposed  Convention  at  Louisville  and  elected  its  quota 
of  delegates.  Thus  was  the  first  note  of  formal  sep- 
aration sounded.  That  it  would  close  in  a  diapason  of 
the  Conferences  South,  no  man  questioned,  least  of  all 


236  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

the  wise  and  far-seeing  senior  superintendent.  I  find 
in  the  fragmentary  remains  of  Bishop  Soule's  papers 
one  written  in  his  own  hand  which  belongs  to  this  date. 
It  is  addressed,  "My  Dear  Brother,"  but  there  is  no 
clew  to  the  identity  of  the  addressed.  I  am,  however, 
led  to  think  that  the  contents  were  meant  for  either 
Bishop  Morris  or  Bishop  Hedding.  The  document  is 
of  such  importance  as  expounding  the  Bishop's  atti- 
tude at  this  time  that  I  quote  two  of  its  more  pertinent 
sections : 

In  my  last  letter  I  freely  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
division  of  the  Church  would  be  the  inevitable  result  of  the 
action  of  the  late  General  Conference  and  offered  some  grounds 
on  which  that  opinion  was  founded.  But  while  I  entertain 
this  sentiment  as  the  honest  and,  I  think,  the  unprejudiced 
conviction  of  my  mind,  and  as  such  express  it,  I  do  it  at  the 
same  time  with  a  sorrow  and  heaviness  of  spirit  too  deep  and 
painful  to  be  described.  And  if  the  last  act  of  my  official 
life  could  effect  such  a  permanent  adjustment  of  the  contro- 
versy as  would  preserve  the  union  of  the  body  on  a  firm  foun- 
dation, I  should  believe  that  I  had  lived  to  valuable  purposes, 
if  no  other  act  of  my  life  had  contributed  to  the  promotion 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  the  best  interests  of 
my  country,  or  the  happiness  of  my  fellow-men.  But  I  cannot 
even  hope  for  such  an  auspicious  close  of  my  pilgrimage. 
.  .  .  Can  it  be  true  in  fact  that  the  constitution  and  dis- 
ciplinary rules  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  are 
designed  as  the  bulwarks  and  safeguards  of  the  right  and 
privileges  of  every  grade  of  ministers  and  members  in  her 
communion  and  to  define  and  limit  the  powers  of  every  judi- 
cature and  prescribe  the  duties  and  prerogatives  of  every  of- 
fice known  in  her  economy,  are  so  vague  and  indefinite  as  to 
afford  a  valid  ground  for  such  conflicting  opinions?  Are  the 
lines  of  demarcation  between  the  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  departments  of  the  Church  yet  to  be  settled?     Is  it 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  237 

yet  to  be  determined  whether  the  eldership  of  the  Church  is 
equal  in  its  rights?  or  whether  the  episcopacy  is  a  mere  agency 
of  the  General  Conference  or  a  distinct  department  in  the  gov- 
ernment ?  Whether  a  bishop  of  the  Church  may  be  suspended 
from  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  his  office  without  any 
form  of  trial  or  any  charge  of  improper  conduct  of  any  kind 
or  any  delinquency  of  official  duties? 

That  Bishop  Soule  had  an  affinity — the  far-off  affin- 
ity of  blood  and  race  traditions — for  the  people  and 
ideals  of  the  South  is  not  to  be  questioned.  The  ata- 
vism so  powerfully  manifested  in  his  character  made 
him  a  Southerner  by  natural  selection.  Slavery  was 
never  to  be  considered  a  part  of  these  ideals.  Slavery 
was  the  accident  as  it  was  the  misfortune  of  the  South. 
At  first  slavery  was  common  to  New  England  and  the 
South.  New  England  was  indeed  the  "black-birder" 
of  the  nation,  introducing  and  promoting  the  trade  in 
the  beginning;  but  the  barren  crofts  of  the  Puritans 
made  slavery  unremunerative.  The  cotton  plant  and 
its  fertile  savannas  made  the  South  a  slave  country. 
The  early  ideals  of  the  South  were  those  conservative 
doctrines  of  the  social  order,  that  amenability  to  law 
and  traditional  authority  and  respect  for  the  worth  of 
the  individual  that  completely  described  the  creed  of 
Joshua  Soule  on  the  intellectual  side.  He  was  op- 
posed to  slavery  as  such,  was  never  the  owner  of  a 
slave,  nor  can  it  be  shown  that  he  ever  sought  by  word 
or  deed  to  abet  the  institution.  He  only  accepted  in 
the  Church  the  view  that  Washington,  Jefferson,  and 
others  had  held  in  the  State.  It  was  a  problem  to  be 
worked  out  in  sanity  and  patience.  That  the  Gordian 
knot  was  at  last  cut  with  the  bloody  sword  of  fratri- 


238  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

cidal  strife  is  not  evidence  that  the  doctrine  of  Wash- 
ington, Jefferson,  Asbury,  and  Soule  in  the  two  realms, 
temporal  and  spiritual,  could  not  have  brought  a  hap- 
pier result  under  conditions  of  peace. 

But  it  was  not  his  natural  affinity  in  these  things  that 
caused  Soule  to  cast  his  lot  with  the  South.  The  large 
determinative  was  the  fact  that,  as  he  saw  it,  the  As- 
burian  ark,  with  the  scroll  of  the  law  and  the  staff  that 
budded,  went  with  the  minority  rather  than  with  the 
majority.  No  historian  dealing  with  the  period  of 
American  Methodism  from  1784  to  1844  can  escape  the 
fact  that  the  spirit  of  Episcopal  Methodism — the  de- 
fense and  interpretation  of  its  legal  life — was  embod- 
ied in  three  men — Francis  Asbury,  William  McKen- 
dree,  and  Joshua  Soule.  Nor  can  it  be  easily  doubted 
that  each  of  these  men  would  have  behaved  himself 
similarly  in  the  other's  place.  Each  stood  absolutely  on 
the  "book  of  the  law."  "Twice  in  my  life,"  said  Bish- 
op Soule  in  after  years,  "have  I  been  brought  to  a 
stand.  Twice  have  my  faith  and  resolution  been  put  to 
the  test ;  but  I  decided  in  both  cases  in  the  fear  of  God, 
and  with  reference  to  my  accountability  at  his  bar." 

As  the  autumn  of  1844  passed  and  the  winter  came 
on,  Conference  after  Conference  of  the  Southern  cir- 
cuit elected  delegates  to  the  proposed  Convention,  all 
expressing  the  hope  that  some  plan  for  continued  unity 
might  be  found,  but  all  instructing  for  separation  as  a 
final  measure.  The  Alabama  Conference,  which  met  in 
March,  1845,  was  the  last  of  the  number  and  completed 
the  unanimity  of  the  call.  It  was  now  May  I,  1845. 
The  delegates  had  assembled  at  Louisville,  and  "Finis" 
was  being  appended  to  the  chapter  on  separation. 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  239 

The  scope  of  this  work  does  not  lay  upon  me  the 
necessity  of  tracing  the  course  of  action  taken  at  this 
Convention.  Our  Church  histories,  and  especially  the 
admirable  work  of  Dr.  Redford,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,  may  be  consulted  for  the  de- 
tails of  the  destiny-making  session.  But  fidelity  to  my 
subject  requires  that  I  treat  briefly  of  the  status  and 
powers  of  this  Convention,  as  the  view  I  get  of  them 
comports  with  the  interpretation  of  separation  as  given 
by  the  august  man  whose  memoir  I  am  now  writing. 
The  Louisville  Convention  was  not  endowed  with 
plenary  powers,  as  some  have  held.  It  was  not  a  Con- 
ference nor  an  ecclesiastical  synod  in  any  proper  sense. 
It  was  no  more  than  a  commission  of  the  General  Con- 
ference, appointed  through  an  unusual  but  constitution- 
al process  to  carry  out  the  details  of  an  act  of  the  said 
Conference — namely,  "The  Plan  of  Separation."  This 
plan,  when  indorsed  by  the  Annual  Conferences  inter- 
ested, became  the  authorization  and  charter  of  the  Con- 
vention, which  had  power  to  divide  the  Church — no 
more.  It  could  not  alter  one  canon,  statute,  or  letter 
of  the  book  of  Discipline  other  than  was  necessary  to 
divide  the  connection  into  two  General  Conferences. 
The  Church  remained  the  same;  the  Discipline  re- 
mained unchanged.  Had  the  Convention  gone  beyond 
this  and  altered  one  rule  or  law  of  the  Discipline,  the 
charge  that  a  new  Church  had  been  created,  that  a  se- 
cession had  been  accomplished,  could  have  been  made 
to  stand.  Nothing  of  the  sort  was,  however,  done. 
The  name  of  the  Church  was  not  changed,  only  for  the 
expositive  "in  the  United  States  of  America"  (which 
itself  was  an  emendation)   was  substituted  the  suffix 


240  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

"South."  The  ratio  of  representation  from  the  An- 
nual Conferences  was  changed,  as  was  also  the  time  for 
the  meeting  of  the  General  Conference  of  the  Southern 
body.  These  two  items  are  indeed  in  the  constitution, 
but  are  nonessentials  and  movable  signs.  For  the  rest 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  verbally  conform  the 
Discipline  to  the  new  order,  and  the  work  of  the  Con- 
vention was  finished,  leaving  the  Church  and  the  Disci- 
pline where  it  found  them. 

The  Southern  Conferences  by  vote  invited  the  bish- 
ops of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America  to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Louis- 
ville Convention.  This  meant  all  the  bishops — Soule, 
Hedding,  Waugh,  Morris,  Andrew,  Hamline,  and 
Janes,  the  two  latter  having  been  elected  by  the  General 
Conference  of  the  year  before.  Bishops  Soule,  Mor- 
ris, and  Andrew  accepted  the  invitation  and  were  pres- 
ent at  the  opening  session.  By  resolution  of  the  Con- 
vention, the  three  bishops  were  requested  to  preside 
over  its  deliberations  and  under  such  arrangements  as 
they  might  make  from  day  to  day.  Bishop  Morris  de- 
clined to  share  the  presidency,  but  Bishop  Soule  for 
himself  and  Bishop  Andrew  accepted  the  invitation  in 
the  following  words :  "The  opinion  which  I  formed  at 
the  close  of  the  late  General  Conference,  that  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  body  would  result  in  a  division  of  the 
Church,  was  not  induced  by  the  impulse  of  excitement, 
but  was  predicated  of  principles  and  facts  after  the 
most  deliberate  and  mature  consideration.  That  opin- 
ion I  have  freely  expressed.  And  however  deeply  I  have 
regretted  such  a  result,  believing  it  to  be  inevitable, 
my  efforts  have  been  made  not  to  prevent  it,  but  rather 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  241 

that  it  might  be  attended  with  the  least  injury  and  the 
greatest  amount  of  good  which  the  case  would  admit. 
I  am  not  alone  in  this  opinion.  A  number  of  aged  and 
influential  ministers  entertained  the  same  views.  And, 
indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  how  any  one  intimate- 
ly acquainted  with  the  facts  in  the  case  and  the  relative 
position  of  the  North  and  South  could  arrive  at  any 
other  conclusion.  Nothing  has  transpired  since  the 
close  of  the  General  Conference  to  change  the  opinion 
I  then  formed,  but  subsequent  events  have  rather  con- 
firmed it.  In  view  of  the  certainty  of  the  issue  and  at 
the  same  time  ardently  desirous  that  the  two  great  di- 
visions of  the  Church  might  be  in  peace  and  harmony 
within  their  own  respective  bounds  and  cultivate  the 
spirit  of  Christian  fellowship,  brotherly  kindness,  and 
charity  for  each  other,  I  cannot  but  consider  it  an  aus- 
picious event  that  sixteen  Annual  Conferences,  repre- 
sented in  this  Convention,  have  acted  with  such 
extraordinary  unanimity  in  the  measures  they  have 
taken  in  the  premises.  In  the  Southern  Conferences 
which  I  have  attended  I  do  not  recollect  that  there  has 
been  a  dissenting  voice  with  respect  to  the  necessity  of 
a  separate  organization ;  and  although  their  official  acts 
in  deciding  the  important  question  have  been  marked 
with  that  clearness  and  decision  which  should  afford 
satisfactory  evidence  that  they  have  acted  under  a  sol- 
emn conviction  of  duty  to  Christ  and  to  the  people  of 
their  charge,  they  have  been  equally  distinguished  by 
moderation  and  candor.  And  as  far  as  I  have  been  in- 
formed, all  the  other  Conferences  have  pursued  a  sim- 
ilar course.  .  .  .  While  you  are  thus  impressed 
with  the  importance  and  solemnity  of  the  subject  which 
16 


242  Life  of  Joshua  Soirfe. 

has  occasioned  the  Convention,  and  of  the  high  respon- 
sibility under  which  you  act,  I  am  confident  you  will 
cultivate  the  spirit  of  Christian  moderation  and  for- 
bearance, and  that  in  all  your  acts  you  will  keep  strict- 
ly within  the  limits  and  provisions  of  the  Plan  of  Sep- 
aration adopted  by  the  General  Conference  with  great 
unanimity  and  apparent  Christian  kindness.  I  can  have 
no  doubt  of  the  firm  adherence  of  the  ministers  and 
members  of  the  Church  in  the  Conferences  you  repre- 
sent to  the  doctrines,  rules,  order  of  government,  and 
forms  of  worship  contained  in  our  excellent  book  of 
Discipline.  For  myself  I  stand  upon  the  basis  of 
Methodism  as  contained  in  this  book,  and  from  it  I 
intend  never  to  be  removed.  I  cannot  be  insensible  to 
the  expression  of  your  confidence  in  the  resolution  you 
have  unanimously  adopted,  requesting  me  to  preside 
over  the  Convention  in  conjunction  with  my  col- 
leagues. And  after  having  weighed  the  subject  with 
careful  deliberation,  I  have  resolved  to  accept  your  in- 
vitation and  discharge  the  duties  of  the  important  trust 
to  the  best  of  my  ability.  My  excellent  colleague,  Bish- 
op Andrew,  is  of  the  same  mind,  and  will  cordially  par- 
ticipate in  the  duties  of  the  chair.  ...  I  am  re- 
quested to  state  to  the  Convention  that  our  worthy  and 
excellent  colleague,  Bishop  Morris,  believes  it  to  be  his 
duty  to  decline  a  participation  in  the  presidential  du- 
ties. He  assigns  such  reasons  for  so  doing  as  are,  in 
the  judgment  of  his  colleagues,  perfectly  satisfactory; 
and  it  is  presumed  they  would  be  considered  in  the 
same  light  by  the  Convention.  In  conclusion,  I  trust 
that  all  things  will  be  done  in  that  spirit  which  will  be 
approved  of  God,  and  devoutly  pray  that  your  acts  may 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  243 

result  in  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom 
and  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  men." 

After  delivering  these  words,  Bishop  Soule  took  the 
chair  and  alternately  with  Bishop  Andrew  presided 
over  the  succeeding  sessions.  On  May  19  the  Conven- 
tion passed  the  following  resolution — viz. : 

Resolved,  That  Bishops  Soule  and  Andrew  be,  and  they  are 
hereby,  respectively  and  cordially  requested  by  this  conven- 
tion to  unite  with,  and  become  regular  and  constitutional 
bishops  of,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  upon  the 
basis  of  the  Plan  of  Separation  adopted  by  the  late  General 
Conference. 

To  this  resolution  Bishop  Soule  submitted  on  the 
same  day  the  following  answer : 

Dear  Brethren:  I  feel  myself  bound  in  good  faith  to  carry 
out  the  official  plan  of  Episcopal  Visitations  as  settled  by  the 
bishops  in  New  York  and  published  in  the  official  papers  of  the 
Church  until  the  session  of  the  first  General  Conference  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  from  which  time  it 
would  be  necessary  that  the  plan  should  be  so  changed  as  to 
be  accommodated  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  two  distinct  Gen- 
eral Conferences.  That  when  such  Southern  General  Con- 
ference shall  be  held  I  shall  feel  myself  fully  authorized  by 
the  Plan  of  Separation,  adopted  by  the  General  Conference  of 
1844,  to  unite  myself  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  and  if  received  by  the  General  Conference  of  said 
Church  to  exercise  the  functions  of  the  episcopal  office  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  said  General  Conference. 

Joshua  Soule. 

Following  the  adjournment  of  the  Louisville  Con- 
vention Bishop  Soule  became  the  object  of  many  bitter 
attacks  in  the  press,  both  secular  and  religious,  in  cer- 


244  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

tain  sections  of  the  country.  The  time  has  passed  when 
there  could  be  any  point,  as  there  was  never  any  satis- 
faction, in  either  parading  or  condemning  these  acerbi- 
ties. The  fact  is  mentioned  only  because  it  is  a  link 
in  this  history.  For  the  same  reason  I  mention,  but 
forbear  to  enter  into  any  detail  concerning,  the  fact 
that  certain  Annual  Conferences  officially  criticised  the 
venerable  Bishop.  Other  matters  which  might  be  ad- 
verted to  here  will  come  out  in  the  early  development 
of  this  narrative. 

As  the  biographer  of  Bishop  Soule  there  have  fallen 
to  me  through  a  succession  of  hands,  beginning  with 
those  of  Bishops  Paine  and  McTyeire,  but  all  of  which 
are  now  folded  in  sleep,  certain  autograph  letters  writ- 
ten by  Bishops  Morris,  Waugh,  and  Hedding  which 
have  never  been  published.  They  contain  facts  bear- 
ing on  the  events  of  this  period  of  Bishop  Soule's  life 
that  the  present  and  all  future  generations  of  American 
Methodists  should  know.  Several  of  these  documents 
are  nearing  the  point  of  evanishment  through  fading 
and  age,  and  for  this  reason,  as  for  others,  I  have  de- 
cided to  print  them  in  full  as  a  part  of  this  volume, 
only  connecting  them  by  such  slight  comments  as  will 
make  their  contents  intelligible  to  the  general  reader. 
The  first  of  these  letters  will  show  how  cordially  at 
least  two  of  the  bishops  of  the  Church  in  the  North  re- 
garded Bishop  Soule's  contention  that  he  was  in  of- 
ficial relation  to  the  whole  Church  until  a  competent 
body — the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South — should  meet,  pass  his  character, 
and  put  him  in  relation  under  the  new  order. 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  245 

New  York,  May  27,  1845. 

Bishop  Sonic — Dear  Brother:  In  the  emergency  which  has 
arisen  in  the  affairs  of  our  beloved  Methodism  it  appears  to 
us  that  a  meeting  of  the  superintendents  is  very  important,  if 
not  indispensable.  The  earliest  practical  period  should,  in 
our  opinion,  be  fixed  on  for  the  meeting;  and  after  an  ex- 
amination of  the  plan  of  episcopal  visitation,  we  have  agreed 
to  recommend  that  the  bishops  shall  meet  in  this  city  on 
Wednesday,  July  2,  1845,  at  8  a.m.  If  our  work  had  ad- 
mitted of  it,  we  should  have  been  pleased  to  meet  our  col- 
leagues at  a  point  more  convenient  for  them;  tut  as  our  Con- 
ferences are  now  in  a  course  of  meeting  in  quick  succession, 
it  would  be  impracticable  to  meet  at  a  more  distant  point  from 
their  location.  Hoping  that  you  may  find  it  not  too  incon- 
venient to  meet  at  the  time  and  place  above  specified,  we  ear- 
nestly request  that  you  will  favor  us  with  your  presence  on 
the  occasion. 

Yours  affectionately,  E.  Hedding. 

P.  S. — Bishop  Janes,  although  not  present  to  sign  this  let- 
ter, concurs  in  the  sentiments  expressed. 

Bishop  Soule  did  not  meet  with  the  bishops  in  New 
York,  but  instead  sent  a  letter  in  which  he  expressed 
his  conviction  that  he  was  under  obligation  to  meet  the 
Conferences  assigned  to  him  until  the  session  of  the 
General  Conference  in  the  South.  How  differently 
the  majority  of  his  colleagues  viewed  the  case  is  set 
forth  in  the  following  official  communication  : 

New  York,  July  4,  1845. 
To  Rev.  Bishop  Soule — Dear  Bishop:  Agreeable  to  appoint- 
ment, a  majority  of  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  met  in  New  York  July  2,  1845.  Your  letter  of  the 
7th  ultimo  directed  to  Bishop  Hedding  was  presented  and 
read.  On  the  first  day  of  the  meeting  the  question  was  pre- 
sented relative  to  the  superintendents  going  South  to  preside 


246  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

in  the  Conferences  represented  in  the  Louisville  Convention. 
On  the  second  day,  after  much  deliberation  in  view  of  the 
resolution  of  the  Louisville  Convention  in  which  they  declare 
the  jurisdiction  hitherto  exercised  over  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences represented  in  said  convention  "entirely  dissolved,"  the 
following  was  adopted : 

"Resolved,  That,  acting  as  we  do  under  the  authority  of 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  amenable  to  said  General  Conference,  we  should  not  con- 
sider ourselves  justified  in  presiding  in  said  Conferences  con- 
formably to  the  plan  of  visitation  agreed  upon  at  the  close  of 
the  late  General  Conference  and  published  in  the  journals  of 
the  Church." 

The  Conferences  referred  to  in  the  above  resolution  are 
those  represented  in  the  Louisville  Convention,  including  those 
in  the  episcopal  district  assigned  to  Bishops  Morris  and  Janes 
for  the  present  official  year.  In  view  of  the  opinion  of  their 
colleagues  given  in  the  above  resolution,  Bishops  Morris  and 
Janes  immediately  stated  to  the  meeting  that  they  should  re- 
spectfully decline  going  South  to  preside  at  those  Conferences. 

The  meeting  took  no  action  relative  to  your  appointments. 
But,  thinking  perhaps,  in  view  of  the  decisions  of  the  meeting 
as  above  stated,  you  might  choose  to  change  your  field  of 
labor,  it  was  agreed  Bishop  Morris  should  be  present  at  the 
Rock  River,  Iowa,  and  Illinois  Conferences  to  preside  in  them 
in  case  you  should  decline  attending  them. 

The  resolution  of  the  meeting  relating  to  the  superintendents 
presiding  in  the  Southern  Conferences  will  be  published  im- 
mediately in  connection  with  the  resolution  of  the  Louisville 
Convention. 

The  meeting  agreed  to  continue  to  collect  the  claims  of  all 
the  superintendents  as  heretofore  for  the  present  official  year, 
presuming  the  Southern  Conferences  would  do  the  same,  in- 
cluding the  claim  of  Mrs.  Roberts.  The  meeting  instructed 
us  as  chairman  and  secretary  to  give  Bishop  Soule  this  state- 
ment of  their  proceedings.  Accept  our  assurances  of  esteem 
and  fraternal  affection.  E.  Hedding,  Chairman; 

Edmund  S.  Janes,  Secretary. 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  247 

There  being  great  frankness  of  thought  and  confi- 
dence between  Bishop  Soule  and  Bishop  Morris,  the 
former  addressed  to  the  latter  a  letter  of  judgment 
concerning  the  action  of  the  bishops.  The  letter  of 
Bishop  Morris  in  reply  is  a  model  of  the  speech  of 
courtesy,  brotherly  frankness,  and  manly  sentiment. 
Its  appearance  in  print  can  bring  no  suggestion  of  re- 
gret concerning  the  writer  to  any  Methodist,  North  or 
South : 

Cincinnati,  July  21,  1845. 

Rev.  Bishop  Soule — My  Dear  Brother:  Your  letter  of  the 
19th  inst.  was  received  this  morning.  I  went  to  the  meeting 
at  New  York  on  a  simple  notice  of  it  from  Bishops  Hedding 
and  Waugh,  which  was  received  unexpectedly  and  stated  no 
definite  subject  for  consultation,  but  which  I  regarded  as  a 
sufficient  reason  for  attending,  although  I  had  written  to 
Bishop  Janes  immediately  after  the  Louisville  Convention  my 
purpose  of  going  South  this  year  according  to  the  published 
plan  if  there  was  no  change.  I  give  our  beloved  colleagues 
full  credit  as  to  their  belief  honestly  expressed  that  such  a 
meeting  was  necessary.  You  are  right  in  supposing  that 
Bishop  Janes  and  I  were  in  the  minority  in  passing  the  pub- 
lished resolution.  We  have  not  changed  our  opinion  on  the 
main  principle — that  is,  we  do  not  think  that  mere  conven- 
tional action  destroys  our  jurisdiction  over  the  Southern  Con- 
ferences. Had  we  been  left  to  our  own  convictions  without 
any  further  advice  or  direction  from  our  colleagues,  we  should 
have  felt  bound  by  our  official  responsibility  to  go  forward 
on  our  regular  divisions  of  the  work  South  and  take  conse- 
quences, fearful  as  they  might  have  been.  But  while  we  could 
not  record  our  names  in  favor  of  the  resolution,  we  could  and 
did  agree  to  abide  the  judgment  of  our  colleagues.  Our  right 
to  go  South  was  disputed  by  many;  and  had  we  gone  against 
the  advice  of  our  colleagues,  it  would  have  been  considered 
an  aggravation  of  the  supposed  offense.    We  thought  it  prudent 


248  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

to  decline  for  the  sake  of  order  and  peace,  and  hence  our 
notice  to  the  Conferences  interested. 

In  regard  to  yourself,  no  one  of  the  bishops  present  or  repre- 
sented by  letter  disputed  or  doubted  your  legal  right  or  au- 
thority to  preside  in  any  Conference  North,  the  editorial  de- 
cisions to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Yet  most  of  them 
judged  that  some  different  arrangement  was  expedient,  and 
the  reason  why  it  was  not  effected  by  a  simple  change  in  the 
usual  way  was  that  they  who  were  of  opinion  that  Bishop 
Janes  and  I  could  not  be  justified  in  going  South  were  of 
course  of  opinion  that  they  could  not  send  you  or  any  other 
in  our  place.  Still  it  was  supposed  that  under  the  circum- 
stances, and  especially  in  view  of  the  destitution  of  the  Con- 
ferences South,  you  would  prefer  to  go  there  at  once.  Hence 
the  conditional  provision  for  your  Conferences  North.  Allow 
me  to  add  that  every  individual  in  the  board  expressed  for 
yourself  no  feelings  but  those  of  respect  and  kindness.  In 
view  of  the  whole  ground,  I  am  well  persuaded  there  is  noth- 
ing better  that  can  now  be  done  than  what  you  suggest.  I 
therefore  cordially  agree  to  your  request  to  attend  Rock  River, 
Iowa,  and  Illinois  Conferences  for  you,  that  you  may  be  left 
free  to  do  the  work  which,  under  the  published  plan,  would 
have  fallen  to  me  or  as  much  thereof  as  you  may  be  able 
to  do. 

Your  views  respecting  the  management  of  the  border  work 
are  in  perfect  accordance  with  my  own.  The  ground  taken 
in  some  of  the  principal  Advocates  that  the  whole  Plan  of 
Separation  is  a  nullity  can  never  be  adopted  by  the  majority 
without  the  greatest  inconsistency.  On  this  subject  my  own 
mind  was  once  rather  unsettled  last  winter;  but  my  mature 
judgment  is  that  there  is  no  power  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  that  can  nullify  an  act  of  the  General  Conference  in 
the  interim  of  its  sessions  except  on  a  constitutional  question 
referred  to  the  Annual  Conferences  for  confirmation  or  rejec- 
tion, in  which  case  they  may  render  the  act  void  by  with- 
holding its  requisite  constitutional  majority.  The  bishops  when 
together  in  New  York  took  action  respecting  this  subject. 
It  is  perhaps  unfortunate  that  we  did  not  order  it  to  be  pub- 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  249 

lished.  A  fear  of  increasing  needless  controversy  was  prob- 
ably the  chief  reason,  but  I  am  persuaded  now  more  than  ever 
that  it  would  have  tended  to  peace.  I  do  not  know  whether 
you  have  been  furnished  with  a  copy  or  not.  If  you  have 
not  and  desire  it,  I  will  send  you  a  copy.  The  action  is  in 
the  form  of  two  resolutions.  The  first  declares  that  the  order 
respecting  the  border  work  as  set  forth  in  the  Plan  of  Separa- 
tion is  of  binding  obligation  in  the  premises,  so  far  as  our 
administration  is  concerned,  and  the  second  defines  what  may 
be  regarded  as  sufficient  evidence  that  a  charge  or  society 
decides  by  majority  to  go  North  or  South — viz.,  authentic 
documentary  testimony  either  in  the  form  of  minutes  of  a 
meeting  regularly  called  for  the  purpose  or  a  simple  request  in 
writing,  waiving  the  names  of  a  majority.  It  was  thought 
that  anything  short  of  this  would  open  a  door  for  imposition 
on  the  appointing  power  and  also  on  societies  and  charges. 

I  reached  B *  on  my  return  from  New  York  an  hour 

after  the  final  adjournment,  but  learned  they  had  a  quiet  and 
pleasant  session.  No  charge  or  society  in  the  bounds  of  the 
Conference  requested  any  change  of  relation,  and  the  question 
of  separation  was  not  mooted  in  Conference  or  elsewhere. 
Their  decrease  was  largely  over  2,000  members. 

Brother  William  Holman,  of  Kentucky,  has  been  invited  to 
remove  to  New  Orleans  and  with  consent  of  the  proper  au- 
thority to  take  charge  of  New  Orleans  District  and  reside  in 
the  city.  In  a  conversation  with  me  before  I  left  Louisville 
he  seemed  inclined  to  go.  Brother  W.  Winans  recently  wrote 
to  me  urging  that  arrangement,  and  I  think  favorably  of  it, 
as  Brother  Holman's  very  superior  pastoral  habits  render 
him  suitable  for  the  work  there.  He  is  also  a  good  presiding 
elder,  but  I  must  refer  the  whole  matter  now  to  yourself. 
I  shall  at  any  time  be  pleased  to  correspond  with  you.  With 
sentiments  of  high  respect  and  feelings  of  sincere  affection, 
I  am  yours  in  the  bonds  of  a  peaceful  gospel,  whether  we  labor 
together  or  in  fields  remote  from  each  other. 

Tho.  A.  Morris. 

♦Baltimore. 


250  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

A  second  letter  from  Bishop  Morris,  written  nine 
days  later,  is  filled  with  information  for  this  and  yet 
future  days  of  Methodism.  Its  bearings  on  present- 
day  questions  of  federation  and  comity  are  important 
and  significant  to  the  last  degree.  If  the  spirit  of  this 
letter  had  been  carried  out — if  it  could  be  carried  out 
to-day — a  new  era  would  dawn  for  dissevered  Metho- 
dism, happily  now  made  more  nearly  a  unity  in  senti- 
ment than  for  sixty-six  years  past: 

Cincinnati,  July  30,  1845. 

Rev.  Bishop  Soule — Dear  Brother:  I  called  this  morning  at 
the  Book  Room  for  the  first  time  in  a  week  past,  having  been 
some  days  at  Covington,  Ky.,  assisting  the  brethren  in  an 
extra  meeting,  and  consequently  did  not  receive  your  letter 
of  the  23d  inst.  till  to-day,  otherwise  it  should  have  been  an- 
swered sooner. 

It  is  not  probable  that  I  shall  be  able  to  see  you  at  the  Mis- 
souri Conference,  having  to  meet  the  Indiana  Conference  Oc- 
tober 8;  but  anything  that  may  transpire  at  the  Illinois  Con- 
ference having  any  bearing  on  your  Missouri  work  shall  be 
communicated  by  letter  if  I  cannot  see  you.  I  understand  it 
to  be  the  settled  purpose  of  all  our  colleagues,  as  it  certainly 
is  mine,  to  conform  our  administration  strictly  to  the  first  and 
second  resolutions  of  the  Plan  of  Separation  as  far  as  practica- 
ble. That  some  very  hard  cases  may  arise  under  the  practical 
operation  of  these  rules,  especially  as  to  interior  societies  and 
minority  members  of  border  societies,  is  easily  foreseen;  but 
as  the  bishops  do  not  make  these  cases,  neither  have  they 
power,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  relieve  them  consistently  with  the 
Plan  of  Separation.  It  is  an  item  of  public  news  that  some 
two  hundred  members  in  St.  Louis  have  expressed  their  de- 
termination to  remain  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  but 
whether  these  form  a  majority  of  one  charge  or  are  gleaned 
from  several,  I  am  not  informed.  If  the  former,  the  case 
would  seem  to  be  manageable ;  but  if  the  latter,  what  could 
be  done?  what  ought  to  be  done?     Again,  the  German  mis- 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  251 

sions,  I  have  learned  informally,  would  wish  to  remain  in 
connection  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  I  mean 
those  of  the  St.  Louis  District  branching  out  into  the  Rock 
River,  Iowa,  Illinois,  and  Missouri  Conferences,  while  those 
at  New  Orleans  and  Mobile  would  prefer  the  M.  E.  Church, 
South. 

Brother  Nast  called  on  me  for  information  as  to  their  case, 
and  I  ventured  to  express  the  impression  that,  while  the  Ger- 
man missions  of  New  Orleans  and  Mobile  would  necessarily 
fall  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  those  in  the  St.  Louis  District  might  go  altogether 
with  whichever  side  they  preferred,  according  to  Resolution 
1 ;  for  though  some  of  the  country  missions  either  side  might 
not  be  strictly  on  the  border,  they  were  under  regulations  dif- 
ferent from  other  societies  as  to  Conference  lines,  and  it  might 
operate  injuriously  to  their  welfare  to  separate  them,  there 
being  only  one  district  of  the  whole.  What  do  you  think  of 
this  view  of  the  case? 

During  our  meeting  in  New  York  Brothers  Lane  and  Tip- 
pett  submitted  to  us  a  question  as  to  their  authority  to  pay 
the  dividends  of  the  Book  Concern  to  the  Southern  Confer- 
ences. A  majority  of  the  bishops  thought  it  inexpedient  to 
express  any  official  opinion  in  the  premises,  lest  it  might  be 
used  hereafter  in  case  of  possible  litigation.  I  ascertained, 
however,  that  Bishops  Hedding,  Waugh,  Janes,  and  Hamline 
all  believed  as  I  do  that  the  dividends  should  be  paid  as  here- 
tofore. The  Book  Agents  both  at  New  York  and  Cincinnati 
are  anxious  that  they  should  be  paid,  both  as  a  matter  of 
equity  and  of  policy.  Yet  fears  were  entertained  that  the  Book 
Committee  at  New  York  would  order  otherwise.  Whether 
the  question  is  settled  or  not,  I  am  not  informed.  So  far 
as  I  recollect,  nothing  was  said  as  to  the  family  support  of 
the  bishops  either  in  our  meeting  for  consultation  or  by  the 
Book  Agents.  If  definite  information  is  received  in  time  to 
act  on  your  request  where  I  preside,  it  shall  be  attended  to. 

I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  two  resolutions  respecting  the 
border  work.  It  was  concluded  by  the  bishops  that,  as  they 
were  intended  to  harmonize  our  own  administration  and  were 


252  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

adverse  to  the  opinions  so  confidently  expressed  by  the  lead- 
ing Northern  Advocates,  it  would  occasion  less  excitement 
and  difficulty  to  let  them  be  made  known  in  the  regular  course 
of  administration  than  to  publish  them  in  the  papers.  This, 
I  am  fully  persuaded,  was  an  innocent  mistake.  They  should 
have  accompanied  the  published  resolution.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  all  concerned.  I  wrote  last  week  to  Bishop 
Janes,  our  Secretary,  requesting  him  if  he  concurred  with  me 
to  obtain,  if  practicable,  the  consent  of  our  colleagues  by  letter 
to  publish  them,  with  what  success  is  yet  unknown.  In  the 
meantime  I  think  it  entirely  proper  that  Bishop  Andrew  should 
have  a  copy  for  his  own  use.  1  would  not  wish  to  be  the  oc- 
casion of  making  them  public  without  the  consent  of  my  col- 
leagues. These,  I  believe,  are  all  the  points  adverted  to  in 
your  letter,  and  I  will  add  only  one  or  two  remarks. 

The  violence  of  spirit  indulged  in  by  seme  of  the  editors 
and  their  correspondents  toward  yourself  and  the  Southern 
brethren  since  the  Louisville  Convention  is  reacting  against 
their  own  views  and  measures,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
and  subdivision  is  likely  after  all  to  taper  off  to  a  compara- 
tively narrow  point.    So  much  the  better  for  all  concerned. 

As  separation  is  now  inevitable,  my  chief  concern  is  that 
our  worse  than  needless  controversy  should  be  speedily  ter- 
minated, that  the  Church  funds  should  be  fairly  divided  with- 
out litigation,  that  terms  of  friendly  recognition  and  mutual 
transfers  of  preachers  and  members  should  be  agreed  upon, 
and  that  we  may  live,  love,  and  labor  as  brethren  in  the  vine- 
yard of  our  common  Maker. 

Yours  sincerely,  Tho.  A.  Morris. 

The  last  of  this  series  of  communications  is  cumu- 
lative of  the  spirit  of  fraternity,  frankness,  and  consti- 
tutional action,  dominant  at  this  time  in  the  adminis- 
tration ;  for  let  it  still  be  understood  that  the  Southern 
jurisdiction  did  not  begin  until  nearly  a  year  later — 
namely,  with  the  General  Conference  which  met  at  Pe- 
tersburg, Va.,  in  May,  1846. 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  253 

St.  Louis,  September  29,  1845. 

Rev.  Bishop  Soule — Dear  Brother:  Having  learned  of  the 
Book  Agents  that  the  dividends  would  be  paid  to  the  Confer- 
ences South,  I  presented  the  Bishops'  claims  according  to  the 
old  estimate,  including  those  of  B.ishop  Andrew  and  yourself, 
which  were  cheerfully  paid  by  the  Rock  River  and  Iowa  Con- 
ferences. At  Illinois  they  demurred,  laid  the  subject  over,  dis- 
cussed it,  and  finally  refused  to  pay  the  claims  of  yourself  and 
Bishop  Andrew  by  a  large  majority.  Subsequently  I  pre- 
sented the  claims  of  the  other  bishops,  according  to  the  new 
estimate,  which  were  paid.  I  regretted  such  a  state  of  things, 
but  could  not  control  it. 

The  German  missions  in  Missouri  all  applied,  and  I  think 
by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  members,  to  be  recognized  at 
the  Illinois  Conference,  as  did  all  the  missionaries  connected 
with  them,  and  were  accordingly  attached  to  said  Conference. 
To  this  measure  there  was  some  opposition  from  such  men 
as  wished  the  German  missionaries  to  remain  and  help  to 
form  a  "Missouri  Conference  of  the  M.  E.  Church;"  but  I 
foresaw  they  must  be  received  or  left  to  suffer,  as  they  had 
decided  not  to  come  under  the  new  organization,  and  I  re- 
ceived them  the  more  readily  because  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  has  a  full  proportion  of  missionary  work  and 
expense  exclusively  of  the  German  work.  The  German  mis- 
sions in  Missouri  are  all  comfortably  provided  for.  Those  at 
New  Orleans  and  Mobile  we  of  course  took  no  account  of. 
No  English  station  in  Missouri  desired  recognition  at  Illinois. 
None  applied  except  the  "same  two  hundred  members"  in  St. 
Louis,  who  requested  me  in  writing  through  a  committee  to 
appoint  Brother  J.  M.  Jameson,  of  the  Missouri  Conference, 
as  their  pastor,  which  I  declined  doing,  (1)  because  they, 
being  minority  members  of  several  charges,  did  not  come 
under  the  rule  providing  for  border  stations;  (2)  because 
Brother  Jameson  as  a  member  of  the  Missouri  Conference 
had  not  given  me  authority  to  appoint  him  anywhere.  If  any- 
thing can  be  done  consistently  for  these  unfortunate  brethren, 
misled  by  such  as  ought  to  know  better,  it  would  be  well  to 


254  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

interpose  some  means  for  their  relief.  I  do  not  now  see  how 
I  can  do  anything  for  them. 

Brother  Wilson  S.  McMurray,  of  the  Missouri  Conference, 
gave  me  notice  that  he  desired  to  remain  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  and  that  he  wished  to  hail  from  the  Illinois 
Conference,  and  he  was  received  and  appointed  to  a  circuit. 
Brother  Crawford,  of  the  Arkansas  Conference,  was  recog- 
nized at  the  Iowa  Conference  on  the  same  ground  and  ap- 
pointed to  work  there.  On  the  other  hand,  S.  W.  D.  Chace 
and  N.  G.  Berryman,  of  the  Illinois  Conference,  go  South, 
according  to  Rule  2  of  the  Plan  of  Separation.  I  did  not  give 
them  regular  transfers  because  I  doubted  my  authority  to 
assign  them  to  any  one  of  the  Conferences  from  which  my 
jurisdiction  had  been  withdrawn;  but  I  did  furnish  them  with 
a  testimonial  that  they  were  in  good  standing  and  that  the 
Illinois  Conference  had  approved  their  characters,  which,  I 
doubt  not,  will  place  them  unembarrassed  in  your  hands. 
Brother  N.  P.  Cunningham,  a  man  of  good  repute,  located 
with  a  view,  it  is  said,  of  reentering  the  work  in  the  Missouri 
Conference  this  year  or  next;  and,  lastly,  Dr.  J.  P.  Rich- 
mond, who  was  approved  by  the  Conference  and  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  Rushville  Circuit,  repented  and  gave  notice  that 
he  was  going  South  after  the  Conference  adjourned.  The 
notice  was  unreasonable ;  but,  in  view  of  all  circumstances,  I 
concluded  to  release  him  from  his  appointment  and  let  him 
go,  and  furnished  him  with  a  note  to  that  effect  to  be  used 
if  he  desired  it  on  mature  reflection. 

The  Illinois  Conference  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  going 
to  say  that  the  action  of  the  General  Conference  on  the  Plan 
of  Separation  was  unconstitutional,  a  nullity,  and  should  not 
be  regarded,  etc.  One  resolution  requested  the  bishops  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  visit  Kentucky  and  Missouri 
this  fall  and  hold  Conferences  with  the  minority  preachers, 
which  I  promptly  informed  them  would  not  be  done.  I  did 
not  think  it  proper  to  interfere  with  the  free  expression  of 
their  opinions  as  a  Conference,  but  reserved  the  right  and 
expressed  the  purpose  of  conforming  my  administration  to 
the   rule  of  the   General    Conference  in  the  premises.      (The 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  255 

decrease  of  members  in  the  Illinois  Conference  this  year  is 
over  2,000.  Methodism  there  is  at  ebb  tide.)  These  are  all  the 
items  now  remembered  which  are  necessary  for  me  to  report 
in  view  of  the  transaction  of  your  business,  and  I  have  no 
wish  to  inflict  anything  more  upon  you,  as  your  time  is  fully 
occupied.  I  have  thus  far  endeavored  in  all  things  to  observe 
the  rule  given  us  respecting  separation,  not,  however,  without 
some  difficulty  and  even  modest  hints  of  a  day  of  reckoning 
in  1848.    In  regard  to  that,  however,  I  am  but  little  concerned. 

Disease  and  death  abound  to  a  fearful  extent  in  Illinois  this 
year.  I  signed  the  Journal  of  the  Illinois  Conference  Thurs- 
day night  at  twelve  o'clock,  traveled  sixty  miles  on  Friday, 
forty  on  Saturday,  and  reached  St.  Louis  at  3  p.m.  and  learned 
that  you  had  just  passed  on.  I  preached  yesterday  in  Cen- 
tenary Church,  and  expect  to  leave  by  the  first  boat  for  Madi- 
son, Iowa.  I  send  this  hurried  scrawl  by  Brother  Snormstide, 
who  can  tell  you  the  balance. 

Yours  with  profound  respect  and  sincere  affection, 

Tho.  A.  Morris. 

The  first  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  South  (being  the  sixteenth  General  Con- 
ference since  the  organization  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  America,  in  1784),  met  in  Petersburg, 
Va.,  on  May  I,  1846.  Bishop  Andrew  not  being  pres- 
ent and  Bishop  Soule  not  having  formally  given  in  his 
adherence  to  the  Church,  South,  Dr.  John  Early  was 
elected  President  pro  tcm.  On  the  second  day  Bishop 
Andrew  arrived  and  took  the  chair.  On  the  same  day 
Bishop  Soule  sent  the  following  communication  to  the 
Conference: 

Petersburg,  May  2,  1846. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Bnethren:  I  consider  your  body,  now  or- 
ganized, as  the  consummation  of  the  organization  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in  conformity  to  the 
"Plan  of  Separation"  adopted  by  the  General   Conference  of 


256  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1844.  It  is  therefore  in 
strict  agreement  with  the  provisions  of  that  body  that  you 
are  vested  with  full  power  to  transact  all  business  appropriate 
to  a  Methodist  General  Conference. 

I  view  this  organization  as  having  been  commenced  in  the 
"Declaration"  of  the  delegates  of  the  Conferences  in  the 
slaveholding  States,  made  at  New  York  in  1844,  and  as  having 
advanced  in  its  several  stages  in  the  "Protest,"  the  "Plan  of 
Separation,"  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  the  Louisville 
Convention,  in  the  action  of  that  body,  in  the  subsequent 
action  of  the  Annual  Conferences,  approving  the  acts  of  their 
delegates  at  the  convention,  and  in  the  appointment  of  dele- 
gates to  this  General  Conference.  The  organization  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  being  thus  completed  in 
the  organization  of  the  General  Conference  with  a  constitu- 
tional president,  the  time  has  arrived  when  it  is  proper  for 
me  to  announce  my  position.  Sustaining  no  relation  to  one 
Annual  Conference  which  I  did  not  sustain  to  every  other,  and 
considering  the  General  Conference  as  the  proper  judicatory 
to  which  my  communication  should  be  made,  I  have  declined 
making  this  announcement  until  the  present  time.  And  now, 
acting  with  strict  regard  to  the  "Plan  of  Separation,"  and  under 
solemn  conviction  of  duty,  I  formally  declare  my  adherence 
to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  And  if  the  Con- 
ference receive  me  in  my  present  relation  to  the  Church,  I 
am  ready  to  serve  them  according  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
In  conclusion,  I  indulge  the  joyful  assurance  that,  although 
separated  from  our  Northern  brethren  by  a  distinct  Confer- 
ence jurisdiction,  we  shall  never  cease  to  treat  them  as  "breth- 
ren beloved"  and  cultivate  those  principles  and  affections 
which  constitute  the  essential  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ. 

(Signed)  Joshua  Soule. 

To  this  communication  the  Conference  responded 
with  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved  by  the  delegates  of  the  several  Annual  Confer- 
ences of  the   Methodist  Episcopal  Church,   South,  in  General 


Cavalier  and  Puritan.  257 

Conference  assembled,  That,  fully  agreeing  with  Bishop  Soule 
as  it  regards  his  right  of  action  in  the  premises  by  authority 
of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  we  cheerfully  and  unani- 
mously recognize  him  as  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  with  all  the  constitutional  rights  and  privi- 
leges pertaining  to  his  office  as  bishop  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.  H.  B.  Bascom, 

William  Winans. 

And  thus  was  sealed  the  allegiance  to  which  the  log- 
ic, the  loyalties,  and  the  faith  of  his  life  had  led.  Thus 
was  the  Puritan  made  master  in  the  spiritual  house  of 
the  Cavalier.  Thus  was  strangely  answered  for  him 
the  question  of  his  boyish  heart,  when  in  a  pent-up  val- 
ley of  Maine  he  cried  to  the  birch  wolds  and  the  blue 
horizon  far  beyond — cried  in  a  language  that  he  him- 
self could  not  fully  interpret:  "Shall  I  ever  see  those 
fragrant  lands  where  are  the  feet  of  the  great  Wash- 
ington, and  where  the  heroes  are?"  He  saw  the  land 
of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  of  Asbury  and  Jesse 
Lee — he  saw  and  conquered  it  through  a  spirit  master- 
ful like  the  spirits  of  its  greatest  and  best.  And  they 
of  that  land  opened  their  hearts  to  him,  and  in  their 
hearts  kept  him  to  the  end  with  an  all  but  idolatrous 
reverence. 

17 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Master  in  Israel. 

When  the  Senior  Bishop  of  Methodism  gave  in  his 
letter  of  adherence  to  the  Southern  General  Confer- 
ence, he  was  near  the  completion  of  his  sixty-fifth  year. 
One  of  his  younger  and  later  colleagues,  who,  then  but 
a  stripling,  witnessed  the  scene  and  had  his  eyes  rivet- 
ed on  the  great  ecclesiastic,  said  of  him :  "He  was  very 
erect,  and  when  he  sat  down  seemed  taller  than  a  man 
of  six  feet  might  be.  A  glance  at  his  face  fixed  a  no- 
ble image  on  my  mind,  which  time  cannot  erase,  and 
which  does  not  grow  older  with  the  years."  He  was 
even  then  a  venerable  man  in  everything  which  that 
term  signifies.  And  who  could  have  dreamed  that 
there  were  before  him  more  than  a  score  of  years — 
that  he  was  to  outlive  most  of  the  leaders  of  that  gen- 
eration, having  already  outlived  those  of  another  gen- 
eration ?  But  it  was  so ;  he  was  to  go  on  to  see  his  four- 
score years,  and  then,  because  the  fulfilling  days  were 
dark  with  war  and  strife,  Heaven  added  yet  a  lustrum 
more  that  his  eyes  might  close  in  times  of  tranquillity 
and  peace. 

Soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  1846,  Bishop  Soule  removed  his  residence  from 
Lebanon,  Ohio,  where  he  had  lived  since  1824,  to  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.  A  bishop's  home,  or  parsonage,  had  been 
provided  for  him  by  the  wealthy  congregation  of  Mc- 
Kendree  Church,  assisted  by  well-to-do  Methodist  res- 

(258) 


The  Master  in  Israel.  259 

idents  in  the  State,  including  several  ministers  of 
means.  The  home  was  located  on  what  is  now  Sixth 
Avenue  and  but  a  few  blocks  from  the  center  of  the 
city.  Before  the  coming  of  the  Bishop  and  the  other 
members  of  the  family  from  Ohio  to  their  new  home, 
Airs.  Maria  Soule  Van-Dyke,  a  widowed  daughter,  suf- 
fering from  tuberculosis,  visited  in  the  homes  of  Drs. 
A.  L.  P.  Green  and  John  B.  McFerrin.  She  was  an  at- 
tractive and  accomplished  woman,  and  won  in  the 
hearts  of  the  local  Church  people  a  large  place  for  the 
family,  in  addition  to  that  already  preempted  by  the 
name  and  fame  of  her  venerable  father.  Only  a  year 
after  the  settlement  of  the  family  in  Nashville  this 
daughter  died,  the  first  of  the  circle  to  find  sepulture  in 
the  soil  that  is  forever  honored  in  holding  the  ashes  of 
her  sire. 

The  General  Conference  of  1846  found  little  work  to 
do ;  there  was  no  desire  for  novelty  or  change.  "The 
Discipline  as  it  is,"  was  the  motto  of  those  days,  the 
spirit  of  which  is  good  for  all  generations  of  Metho- 
dists. Changes  that  do  not  spring  from  fundamental 
needs  are  likely  to  work  confusion.  But  the  Confer- 
ence did  add  to  the  episcopacy  effectively  by  the  elec- 
tion to  that  office  of  William  Capers  and  Robert  Paine. 
The  senior  superintendent  continued  in  infirm  health, 
and,  with  two  young  colleagues  given  him  by  the 
Church,  was  not  under  the  necessity  of  taking  so  great 
a  burden  of  labor  as  he  had  carried  in  the  undivided 
Church ;  but  he  was  far  from  remaining  inactive,  and 
kept  his  hand  on  the  helm  to  be  sure  that  the  craft 
launched  under  new  conditions  should  be  held  to  the 
chart  of  constitutional  safety. 


260  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

A  new  and  serious  question  arose  as  early  as  1846, 
even  earlier,  relating  to  the  adjustment  of  the  stations 
along  the  border.  It  persists  to  this  day.  It  is  very 
far  from  my  purpose  or  wish  to  revive  the  memory  of 
old  resentments  or  add  to  those  which  unfortunately 
subsist  to-day.  In  my  office  as  biographer  I  cannot, 
however,  choose  but  record  the  facts  of  this  question  as 
they  confronted  Bishop  Soule  and  his  colleagues. 

In  the  summer  or  early  autumn  of  1847  a  meeting 
of  the  bishops  was  called  for  Louisville.  This  was 
done  that  the  superintendents  who  had  the  Ohio  River 
and  trans-Mississippi  Conferences  to  hold  might  be 
well  on  their  way,  and  also  on  their  proper  dates.  Bish- 
ops Soule,  Andrew,  and  Paine  were  at  this  meeting; 
but  Bishop  Capers,  through  sickness  in  his  family, 
which  delayed  him  in  setting  out,  and  through  other 
causes,  was  unable  to  reach  the  sitting  of  his  colleagues. 
One  of  the  chief  topics  discussed  at  this  meeting  was 
the  policy  of  the  Southern  bishops  in  dealing  with 
these  border  matters.  The  decision  readily  reached 
was  that  they  would  implicitly  observe  the  Plan  of  Sep- 
aration. On  this  point  Bishop  Capers,  in  a  letter  to 
Bishop  Soule,  the  unpublished  autograph  copy  of  which 
is  before  me,  said : 

In  any  event,  it  does  not  appear  to  me  (as  I  have  yet  been 
able  to  see)  that  it  could  be  consistent  for  us  to  send  preach- 
ers to  constitute  separate  Churches  among  them,  or  that  such 
a  procedure  might  be  pleasing  to  God,  promotive  of  true  re- 
ligion, or  beneficial  to  the  Church,  South.  It  would  imply 
a  persuasion  on  our  part,  far  from  what  we  really  believe, 
that  with  the  same  articles  of  faith  and  doctrines  of  religion 
to  the  smallest  particular  and  with  the  same  form  of  govern- 
ment and  discipline  there  exists  cause  enough  in  the  naked 


The  Master  in  Israel.  261 

part  of  a  difference  of  opinion  about  slavery  and  abolition  for 
the  erection  of  altar  against  altar  in  States  where  the  law 
of  the  land  is  not  concerned  and  the  question  can  only  be 
an  abstraction.  And  I  am  persuaded  that  very  little,  if  any, 
of  this  invasion  policy  can  be  pursued  without  breaking  up 
the  foundation  principle  of  itinerancy  by  introducing  a  cor- 
ruption among  us  that  will  hold  back  bishops  and  Conferences, 
while  Cincinnati,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  City 
shall  put  the  whole  connection  under  tributes  to  them  and 
make  their  electioneering  bargains  with  popular  preachers 
for  their  most  important  appointments.  I  am  free  to  confess 
that  even  if  the  Plan  of  Separation  should  be  declared  null 
and  void  by  the  Northern  General  Conference  of  '48  I  could 
not  with  my  present  views  send  a  preacher  to  an  interior  ap- 
pointment North  without  being  guilty  of  schism.  We  have 
nothing  more  to  do  with  them,  as  I  think,  but  to  love  them 
and  pray  for  them.  And  so  if  they  should  send  preachers 
among  us  it  would  be  altogether  wrong.  Still  as  wrong  can- 
not work  right,  if  they  should  do  so,  I  would  not  retaliate. 

The  crucial  event  of  this  period  was  now  drawing 
near — the  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  to  convene  in  Pittsburg  in  May,  1848.  Deep- 
ly desirous  of  fraternal  relations  with  their  brethren  in 
the  North,  the  delegates  assembled  in  the  Southern 
General  Conference  had  appointed  Dr.  Lovick  Pierce 
to  bear  to  the  General  Conference  at  Pittsburg  their 
greetings  and  overtures  of  fraternity.  Bishop  Soule 
and  his  colleagues  had  also  prepared  an  address  to  be 
presented  by  this  delegate.  And  yet  another  matter  was 
to  come  before  the  Pittsburg  sitting — namely,  the  ad- 
justment of  the  claims  of  the  Church,  South,  against  the 
Book  Concern  and  the  chartered  Fund.  These  matters 
gave  to  the  Pittsburg  General  Conference  an  unusual 


262  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

importance  from  the  standpoint  of  the  South.  The  is- 
sue is  known,  and  need  be  put  here  in  the  fewest  words. 
The  Conferences  did  not  see  fit  to  receive  the  Southern 
delegate  or  to  enter  into  any  "fraternization  with  the 
Church,  South."  Moreover,  as  the  Annual  Conferences 
in  the  North  had  failed  to  support  a  proposition  to  di- 
vide the  funds  of  the  Church,  the  Plan  of  Separation 
was  declared  to  be  null  and  void.  But  since  responsible 
annalists  of  the  Church,  North,  have  characterized  this 
Conference  as  "radical  and  revolutionary,"  no  word 
is  necessary  from  this  side.  It  was  the  one  blunder 
of  the  General  Conference  of  1844,  in  drafting  the  Plan 
of  Separation,  that  it  made  the  division  of  the  Church 
funds  dependent  upon  a  vote  of  the  Annual  Confer- 
ences. The  power  of  the  General  Conference  to  divide 
the  Church  was  the  power  to  divide  its  funds ;  in  fact, 
the  dual  division  was  accomplished  in  one  and  the  same 
act.  The  allotting  to  the  South  of  its  part  was  not  an 
"appropriation"  of  the  funds,  and  hence  did  not  come 
under  the  restrictive  rule  of  the  constitution,  but  was 
simply  a  continuance  of  them  to  their  legal  use  under 
changed  conditions.  The  refusal  of  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences to  ratify,  had  it  been  made  to  hold,  would  have 
left  the  Southern  Church  in  the  attitude  of  a  secession. 
It  was  taken  for  granted  in  1844  that  the  Annual  Con- 
ferences even  in  the  North  would  not  hesitate  to  affirm 
the  action  of  the  general  body.  Possibly  it  was  his- 
torically fortunate  that  they  did  not  do  so.  The  civil 
courts  later  adjudged  the  case  and  put  the  Plan  of  Sep- 
aration on  the  high  ground  upon  which  the  South 
claimed  it  had  been  created  and  should  stand.  There  it 
stands  to-day,  the  generous  and  just  spirit  of  the  Meth- 


The  Master  in  Israel.  263 

odism  of  the  North  having,  long  ago,  fully  and  com- 
pletely accepted  it  in  its  original  intent. 

This  brings  me  to  the  place  where  I  can  pertinently 
introduce  the  last  of  the  unpublished  papers  of  Bishop 
Soule  which  have  been  left  in  my  hands.  It  is  one 
which  bears  directly  on  not  a  few  of  the  points  involved 
in  the  actions  of  the  General  Conference  of  1848,  and 
I  am  sure  every  student  of  Methodist  history  will  wel- 
come it  as  shedding  a  helpful  light  on  the  events  of 
those  days : 

Having  in  sincerity  and  good  faith  made  the  proposition 
for  the  permanent  establishment  of  a  fraternal  relation  between 
the  two  bodies,  which  proposition  has  been  promptly  rejected 
by  the  Church,  North,  it  now  becomes  our  duty  to  pursue  our 
one  great  work  of  seeking  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  the 
people,  whether  bond  or  free,  committed  to  our  charge,  without 
the  auxiliary  aid  or  fraternal  intercourse  with  our  Northern 
brethren,  so  far  as  the  act  of  the  General  Conference  can 
defeat  that  intercourse.  In  doing  this,  fearless  of  consequences, 
believing  that  we  are  sustained  by  apostolic  authority,  leaving 
the  relation  of  civil  society  to  the  secular  authorities  of  the 
countries  to  which  they  lawfully  appertain,  we  will  direct  and 
apply  our  efforts  both  in  our  ecclesiastical  councils  and  in  the 
ministry  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  one  great  object  of 
bringing  our  fellow-men  in  every  relation  and  condition  in 
life  to  a  "saving  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  fully 
believing  that  the  leaven  of  our  holy  Christianity  is  the  safest 
and  surest  remedy  which  we  as  a  branch  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  can  apply  for  the  prevention  or  cure  of  any  evils  which 
may  exist  in  society.  Earnestly  and  sincerely  as  we  may 
desire  to  fraternize  with  every  evangelical  denomination  of 
Christians,  and  especially  with  every  legitimate  branch  of  the 
Wesleyan  Methodist  family  both  at  home  and  abroad,  we 
should  regard  such  fraternity  as  purchased  at  too  great  a 
sacrifice  if  it  involved  any  terms  or  provisions  which  might 
operate  as  a  barrier  to  our  access  to  the  hundreds  of  thou- 


264  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

sands  of  the  colored  population  of  the  slaveholding  States  of 
this  confederacy.1 

While  we  have  such  a  charge  on  our  hands,  and  while  a 
great  and  effectual  door  of  access  to  this  vast  and  needy 
population  is  now  open  before  us,  let  us  not  regard  it  as  a 
matter  of  momentous  account,  either  that  our  proposition  of 
fraternal  relations  should  have  been  rejected  or  that  we  should 
be  denounced  as  a  "pro-slavery"  Church,  and  that  the  design 
of  our  organization  was  to  build  up  and  perpetuate  the  in- 
stitution of  "slavery,"  especially  as  we  know  assuredly  that 
these  allegations  have  no  foundation  in  truth.  All  these  things 
may  be  regarded  as  "light  in  the  balance"  when  compared 
with  the  success  of  our  missionary  labors  among  the  slaves 
only  for  the  last  four  years.2  Let  us  double  our  diligence 
in  this  our  great  and  truly  legitimate  work,  and  leave  our 
Northern  friends  to  "fight  as  those  that  beat  the  air"  But 
let  us  be  aware  that  we  do  but  injure  ourselves  by  "rendering 
evil  for  evil"  or  "railing  for  railing;"  but  rather  as  far  as 
possible  let  us  live  peaceably  with  all  men,  never  forgetting 
that  "he  that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better  than  the  mighty,  and 
he  that  ruleth  his  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a  city,"  and  that 
"a  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath." 

The  General  Conference  of  1846  by  resolution  re- 
quested Bishop  Soule  to  write  the  life  of  his  great  col- 
league, Bishop  McKendree,  and  it  would  seem  that 
he  at  one  time  meditated  entering  upon  that  task ;  but 
it  was  never  undertaken,  and  the  honor  finally  fell  to 
his  younger  colleague,  Bishop  Paine,  whose  two-vol- 
umed  biography  of  McKendree  appeared  several  years 
after  Bishop  Soule's  death. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  visit  of  Dr.  Dixon,  the 

1This  refers  to  the  Federal  republic,  and  not  the  Confed- 
eracy of  1861-65. 

2This  fixes  the  date  of  the  paper — 1850,  "four  years"  from 
1846,  the  date  of  the  first  Southern  General  Conference. 


The  Master  in  Israel.  265 

fraternal  delegate  from  England  to  the  General  Con- 
ference in  the  North,  and  of  his  attachment  to  and  his 
enthusiastic  admiration  for  Bishop  Soule.  Touching 
the  Bishop's  adherence  to  the  South,  this  brilliant 
preacher  and  Church  statesman  wrote  in  a  volume  of 
American  reminiscences,  published  in  1849,  as  follows: 

He  entered  fully  into  the  subject  of  his  connection  with 
the  South,  saying  he  supposed  we  would  be  surprised  at  the 
event.  He  avowed  that  he  acted  from  the  dictates  of  his 
conscience,  believing  that  he  should  be  best  enabled  in  the 
section  of  the  Church  he  had  chosen  to  advance  the  interests 
of  his  Master's  kingdom.  Everybody  who  knows  Bishop  Soule 
must  receive  this  testimony.  He  is  incapable  of  equivocation 
or  of  anything  dishonorable.  He  avowed  that  his  convictions 
of  the  evil  of  slavery  had  undergone  no  change;  it  was  as 
much  the  object  of  his  abhorrence  as  ever.  His  explanations 
of  his  conduct  amounted  to  this :  that,  in  his  opinion,  the  only 
possible  way  of  ever  reaching  a  measure  of  emancipation  lay 
in  bringing  the  population  of  the  South,  masters  and  slaves, 
under  the  influence  of  the  gospel ;  and  that  the  only  means  of 
accomplishing  this  was  not  in  agitating  the  question  but  in 
quietly  preaching  the  truth  to  both,  leaving  it  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God  to  work  its  own  results;  moreover,  that  for 
ministers  to  agitate  the  question  of  emancipation  would  in- 
fallibly cause  the  planters  of  the  South  to  shut  the  door 
against  all  attempts  at  evangelization,  and  have  the  effect  of 
leaving  masters  and  servants  in  their  sins. 

After  residing  some  years  in  the  bishop's  home  at 
Nashville,  Bishop  Soule  purchased  a  farm  some  miles 
from  Franklin,  about  two  hours'  drive  by  carriage  from 
Nashville.  The  estate  consisted  of  fifty  acres,  with  a 
substantial  manor  or  farmhouse.  Here  the  Bishop 
lived  during  a  period  of  marked  infirmity,  the  General 
Conference  having  left  it  to  his  discretion  as  to  the  na- 
ture and  extent  of  the  labors  he  was  to  perform.     In 


266  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

an  outdoor  life,  looking  to  the  care  of  his  meadows 
and  the  cultivation  of  his  crofts  and  garden,  he  experi- 
enced great  benefit  and  in  a  measure  recovered  the 
strength  he  was  to  need  so  much  in  the  trying  years 
before  him. 

Dr.  William  M.  Green,  a  son  of  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Green, 
himself  now  one  of  the  veterans  of  the  Tennessee  Con- 
ference, has  recited  to  me  not  a  few  of  the  interesting 
incidents  of  this  period  of  the  Bishop's  life.  He  recalls 
vividly  having,  about  the  year  1850,  driven  Bishop 
Capers  from  his  father's  suburban  residence  to  Bishop 
Soule's  home,  in  Williamson  County.  The  entire  day 
was  spent  in  the  company  of  Bishop  Soule  and  his  wife. 
Dr.  Green,  though  then  but  a  youth  and  unfamiliar  with 
the  wider  reach  of  Church  affairs,  recalls  that  the  two 
Bishops  spent  most  of  the  time  discussing  the  divi- 
sion of  the  Church,  the  unsettled  claims  of  the  South, 
and  the  growth  of  an  unfraternal  sentiment  over  the 
events  then  but  recently  passed.  Bishop  Soule  read  to 
Bishop  Capers  an  article  or  paper  which  he  had  written 
on  the  subject,  to  which  the  latter  gave  the  closest  at- 
tention. Mrs.  Soule,  coming  in  near  the  close  of  the 
reading,  expressed  the  greatest  sorrow  at  the  condition 
of  the  Church,  but  both  she  and  the  Bishop  were  in  the 
fullest  accord  with  the  attitude  of  the  Methodism  of 
the  South.  It  is  of  more  than  passing  interest  here  to 
mention  that  I  have,  after  comparison  of  dates  and 
facts,  become  convinced  that  the  paper  which  Dr.  Green 
heard  the  Bishop  read  in  his  home  is  none  other  than 
the  one  which  appears  on  page  263  of  this  biography. 
It  was  doubtless  meant  to  be  published  in  some  one  or 
other  of  the  Church  journals  or  read  at  a  public  meet- 


The  Master  in  Israel.  267 

ing  or  possibly  to  be  used  as  a  pastoral  to  the  preach- 
ers of  the  connection,  but,  clearly,  was  never  used  in 
either  way.  However,  that  the  paper  represented  the 
generous  Christian  sentiments  of  the  aged  Bishop's 
heart  there  can  never  be  a  question. 

The  General  Conference  of  1850  added  Rev.  Dr. 
Henry  B.  Bascom  to  the  College  of  Bishops ;  but  that 
brilliant  preacher  and  astute  Church  statesman  was  not 
long  spared  to  Methodism.  He  died  suddenly  on  Sep- 
tember 8,  1850,  but  a  few  months  after  his  consecration 
to  the  episcopacy.  To  Bishop  Bascom  the  Methodism 
of  the  South  owed  the  masterful  Church  papers  pre- 
sented in  its  defense  in  1844  and  the  equally  great  pa- 
per which  served  as  the  basis  of  procedure  in  the  Louis- 
ville Convention.  At  the  consecration  of  Bishop  Bas- 
com the  Senior  Bishop  was  only  able  to  totter  to  his 
feet  and  lay  his  venerable  hands  upon  the  princely  head 
of  his  newest  colleague;  but  when,  in  1854,  the  General 
Conference  called  to  the  bishopric  that  immortal  trio, 
Pierce,  Early,  and  Kavanaugh,  he  found  himself  pos- 
sessed again  of  so  much  of  his  old  strength  as  to  be 
able  to  take  the  leading  part  in  their  ordination.  It 
was  at  this  time  that,  a  longing  having  taken  possession 
of  his  heart  to  revisit  the  scenes  of  his  youth  and  join 
in  a  reunion  of  the  remaining  members  of  his  father's 
family,  he  requested  leave  of  the  General  Conference 
to  be  absent  on  the  pilgrimage.  To  this  request  the 
Conference  answered  with  a  hearty  and  affectionate 
concurrence  and  ordered  the  Agents  of  the  Church  to 
place  at  his  disposal  the  necessary  funds  for  his  ex- 
penses. It  was  characteristic  of  this  master  in  Israel, 
this  prince  amongst  rulers,  that  he  did  nothing  without 


268  Life  of  Joshua  Sonle. 

authorization.  He  who  made  the  law  and  exacted 
fealty  to  it  from  others  gave  fealty  in  the  full  measure 
of  a  loyal  and  obedient  mind.  In  1844,  when  an  aca- 
demic honor  was  offered  him  from  Europe,  he  laid  the 
offer  before  the  General  Conference  and  asked  per- 
mission before  he  would  ever  treat  in  the  matter.  The 
half  of  his  nature  lay  along  the  sunny  levels  of  gentle- 
ness, and  from  these  the  rugged  highlands  of  his  mas- 
tery took  breath  and  color. 

As  late  as  1853,  though  called  a  superannuate,  he 
felt  able  to  undertake  the  episcopal  care  of  the  Confer- 
ence on  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  made  the  long  voyage  by 
way  of  Panama.  This  voyage  was  repeated  in  1854. 
While  in  California  he  preached  constantly,  Sundays 
and  secular  days,  and  visited  in  every  part  of  the  State 
where  the  Church  had  stations.  He  was  the  first  of  our 
bishops  to  set  foot  on  the  Golden  Shore.  On  his  first 
visit  he  spent  six  months,  and  was  during  that  time  the 
recipient  of  many  attentions,  the  Governor  of  the  State 
making  him  his  guest  while  at  the  capital.  It  was  the 
successful  accomplishment  of  this  journey  that  led  him 
to  think  of  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrines  and  associations 
of  his  childhood.  By  1855  he  was  deemed  again  too 
much  enfeebled  to  take  any  share  of  the  episcopal  visi- 
tations. For  the  years  1855  and  1856  no  appointment 
was  assigned  him  other  than  to  visit  the  Tennessee  Con- 
ference in  company  with  one  of  his  colleagues ;  but  in 
1857  ancl  I^5^  not  even  this  formality  was  laid  upon 
him.  He  was  thenceforward  the  patriarch  from  whom 
none  would  take  a  sign  of  his  office,  nor  yet  of  him  ex- 
act a  single  requirement,  but  to  whom  all  rendered  un- 
feigned obeisance  of  heart.    He  had  given  up  home  and 


The  Master  in  Israel.  269 

kindred  and  honors  for  the  people  of  the  South.  They 
gave  him  in  return — themselves. 

Some  time  near  the  beginning  of  the  year  1855  the 
Bishop  established  his  residence  on  the  Gallatin  Pike, 
about  seven  miles  from  Nashville.  The  place  was  op- 
posite the  now  famous  City  Road  Chapel,  and  consisted 
of  meadows,  an  orchard,  a  garden,  and  a  few  acres  un- 
der tillage.  The  farmhouse  was  a  modest  but  most 
cozy  and  restful  place,  and  there  the  venerable  man  in- 
dulged to  the  fullest  extent  his  love  of  reading  and  gar- 
dening. The  years  of  his  retirement,  aside  from  what 
were  given  to  worship,  his  family,  and  his  friends,  were 
divided  between  his  library  and  the  plants  and  flowers 
of  his  garden.  He  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  and  his 
tastes  in  literature  were  catholic  and  classic.  I  should 
judge  him  to  be  the  most  rounded  self-made  scholar  of 
his  century. 

On  the  Gallatin  Pike  farm  he  spent  the  remnant  of 
his  days,  saving  the  last  few  months,  which  were  spent 
in  the  city  of  Nashville.  On  May  27,  1857,  his  wife — a 
woman  who  through  fifty- four  years  of  life  proved  her- 
self to  be  worthy  of  so  great  a  husband — entered  into 
rest  and  was  laid  beside  the  daughter  who  had  gone 
ten  years  before.  Strong,  courageous,  and  confident  of 
the  future  though  he  was,  "he  refused  to  take  a  poetic 
or  romantic  view  of  death."  He  was  deeply  moved  at 
separation  from  the  companion  of  his  life  and  heart. 
Loyally  and  affectionately  they  had  walked  together. 
No  lack  of  faith  had  ever  estranged  their  thoughts.  It 
was  with  the  choking  grief  of  a  lover  that  he  saw  the 
dust  take  back  its  own. 

The  session  of  the  famous  General  Conference  of 


270  Life  of  Joshua  Souk. 

1858,  which  was  held  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  of 
the  Tennessee  Capitol,  found  him  a  superannuate  in  all 
but  the  completest  sense ;  and  yet  he  was  able  to  be  in 
constant  attendance  upon  its  sittings.  In  that  justly  ex- 
tolled work  of  art,  the  steel  engraving  by  Buttre,  of 
New  York,  which  shows  the  Conference  of  1858  in  one 
of  its  sittings,  his  majestic  face  and  form  assert  a  si- 
lent primacy  over  that  assembly  of  leaders.  He  was 
asked  by  resolution  of  the  Conference  to  preach  at  some 
hour  during  the  session  when  his  strength  would  seem 
to  admit  of  the  necessary  physical  exertion.  This  he 
agreed  to  do,  but  I  find  no  indication  in  the  Journal  that 
he  was  ever  able  to  fulfill  his  promise.  The  benediction 
of  his  presence  was  to  his  brethren  more  eloquent  and 
effective  than  any  sermon  could  have  been.  His  life  had 
been  a  sermon  that  called  through  all  men's  hearts. 

The  session  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  which  met 
at  Athens,  Ala.,  in  October,  1861,  was,  excepting  the 
Tennessee  sitting  at  Edgefield  in  1865,  at  which  he  was 
present  only  brief  whiles,  the  last  regular  session  of  an 
Annual  Conference  attended  by  Bishop  Soule.  Bishop 
John  Early  was  presiding,  and  his  venerable  colleague 
was  present  the  entire  time  as  a  visitor  only.  Rev. 
Thomas  L.  Moody,  now  a  veteran  of  the  Conference, 
was  then  an  undergraduate  and  also  present.  Recall- 
ing the  scenes  of  the  session,  he  says :  "The  reverence 
shown  Bishop  Soule  by  the  Conference  was  a  contin- 
ual wonder  to  me.  When  it  appeared  that  he  wished 
to  speak,  all  was  attention,  and  amid  silence  the  entire 
body  seemed  to  lean  forward  to  catch  each  word.  On 
account  of  age  and  feebleness,  he  remained  seated 
while  speaking.    He  sat  all  the  while  very  erect  in  his 


The  Master  in  Israel.  271 

chair  on  the  rostrum.     His  presence  commanded  at- 
tention even  when  he  kept  silence." 

After  a  dozen  years  of  rest  and  quiet  in  his  modest 
manor,  swept  round  by  meadows,  swathed  with  blue 
grass  and  clover,  there  came  upon  the  land  a  crash  of 
thunders  and  a  tempest  of  strife,  with  an  intermittent 
rain  of  blood.  In  the  War  between  the  States  the  capi- 
tal was  early  occupied  by  the  Federal  troops.  In  this 
way  the  Bishop  was  completely  cut  off  from  communi- 
cation with  his  colleagues,  and  was  much  of  the  time 
without  information  concerning  the  welfare  of  the 
Church  at  large.  The  General  Conference  which 
should  have  held  its  session  in  1862,  was,  through 
stress  of  war,  prevented  from  assembling.  The  land 
was  filled  with  alarms  and  with  marching  and  counter- 
marching armies.  In  the  midst  of  it  all  the  octogenari- 
an Bishop  lived  on,  unmoved  and  unterrified.  Long  in- 
deed had  strife's  abortive  cry  assailed  his  ears — too 
long  for  him  to  fear,  far  too  long  for  him  to  doubt  the 
pledge  of  the  Voice  that  hushes  all.  He  did  not  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  either  the  North  or  the  South ; 
no  man  ever  required  it  of  him.  Into  the  sanctity  of 
the  chamber  where  he  sat  with  his  books,  nor  yet  upon 
the  miniature  demesne  of  meadows  and  garden  plats 
over  which  his  revered  shadow  fell,  dared  no  man  to 
come  asking:  "Whose  servant  art  thou?"  With  poli- 
tics he  had  never  entangled  himself.  In  his  judgment 
the  Church  should  eschew  partisanship  or  alliances  of 
any  sort  with  secular  cabals.  So  careful  was  he  in 
these  matters  that  for  a  long  time  even  the  members  of 
his  own  family  could  not  locate  his  sympathies  in  the 
war  then  raging  about  them.     It  was  only  through  a 


272  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

single  remark  made  after  one  of  the  great  battles  of 
the  sixties  had  been  fought  that  he  betrayed  his  pref- 
erence for  the  arms  of  the  South. 

During  the  Federal  occupation  of  Nashville  and  near 
the  beginning  of  the  fourth  year  of  the  war  Bishop 
Soule  called  a  conference  of  such  of  the  preachers  as 
were  within  reach  to  meet  at  City  Road  Chapel,  the 
church  near  his  home.  The  occasion  of  the  call  was 
this :  No  bishop  had  been  able  to  visit  the  Conferences 
in  Tennessee  for  more  than  two  years  past.  At  the 
session  held  at  Cornersville  in  1862  a  number  of  itin- 
erants had  been  elected  to  deacon's  and  elder's  orders, 
and  they  now  desired  Bishop  Soule  to  ordain  them.  To 
attend  to  these  offices  and  to  give  such  pastoral  ad- 
vice as  he  could,  he  summoned  them  to  an  interview. 
At  this  time  an  article  appeared  in  a  Nashville  daily 
paper  edited  under  Federal  censorship  virulently  at- 
tacking Bishop  Soule  and  styling  his  ordination  meet- 
ing a  "Grayback  Conference,"  referring  to  the  gray 
uniforms  of  the  Confederate  troops.  Grand,  suffering 
old  man !  God  permitted  him  to  live  to  see  the  Church 
once  "peeled  and  scattered  and  meted  out"  prepare  to 
renew  its  youth  and  recover  its  wasted  heritage.  And  if 
it  is  granted  him  to  look  down  from  the  towers  of  the 
distant  spiritual  city  where  they  have  crowned  him,  he 
sees  to-day,  in  the  millions  who  worship  at  the  altars 
he  loved,  a  vision  that  helps  to  gladden  his  triumphant 
soul. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
The  Evening  Bell. 

When  the  days  of  peace  came,  following  the  car- 
nage and  iron  mandates  of  war,  they  found  the  man 
of  God  where  he  had  always  been — with  his  feet  on  the 
earth,  but  his  head  high  in  the  heavens  of  faith  and  vi- 
sion. The  little  manor  in  the  heart  of  the  blue  grass 
lands  of  Middle  Tennessee  had  been  a  magnet  to  many 
thousands  of  hearts  during  the  dark  days  of  war.  Now 
it  became  a  shrine  to  which  the  feet  of  many  reverently 
and  gratefully  turned  and  to  which  helpful  tokens  out 
of  the  poverty  of  a  people  once  rich  found  their  way. 
The  writer  of  this  biography,  though  of  tender  years, 
recalls  that  the  name  of  Bishop  Soule  was  a  sound  that 
helped,  in  those  first  years  after  strife,  to  conjure  back 
the  hopes  of  those  who  turned  again,  each  in  his  way, 
to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Zion ;  nor  can  he  ever  forget  the 
pall  of  mourning  spread  over  the  heritage  of  the  people 
called  Methodists  in  these  ends  of  the  continent  when 
the  tidings  of  his  death  were  published.  A  smothered 
cry  along  the  re-forming  ranks  of  the  host  was  heard : 
"He  is  gone !  Help,  Lord,  for  the  godly  man  ceaseth. 
Who  is  left  that  can  lift  the  spear  or  bend  the  bow 
which  he  has  laid  down  ?" 

But  there  remain  yet  other  words  of  this  testimony, 
and  these  I  must  record  before  my  task  is  done. 

The  three  years  that  fell  to  Bishop  Soule  after  the 
cessation  of  war  had  restored  to  him  the  children  of  his 
18  (273) 


274  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

spiritual  patriarchate  were  a  season  of  ripening  in 
spiritual  grace  and  of  flourishing  in  intellectual  alert- 
ness. He  did  not  begin  to  die  at  the  top,  but  his  men- 
tality flourished  in  a  youth  like  the  eagle's. 

It  is  the  testimony  of  all  that  his  conversational  pow- 
ers were  most  unusual.  Wit  and  humor  flashed 
through  his  speech  like  the  noiseless  pulsings  of 
sheet  lightnings  through  the  cumulus  clouds  of  sum- 
mer. His  thick,  overshadowing  brows  gave  majesty  to 
the  look  of  his  great,  deep  eyes,  and  actually  seemed  at 
times  to  cast  meaningful  shadows  into  their  depths  as 
overhanging  cliffs  mirror  themselves  in  placid  lakes. 
So  marked,  so  impressive  were  his  features,  and  so 
much  did  they  grapple  with  those  who  heard  him  in 
public  speech  or  conversation,  that  an  adept  might  have 
drawn  them  in  absence  after  a  single  study. 

In  conversation  he  was  always  genial,  but  never  run- 
ning into  levity  either  of  thought  or  speech.  His  digni- 
ty was  the  antithesis  of  austerity.  He  more  frequently 
said  "sir"  than  "brother,"  though  never  beat  a  more 
fraternal  heart  than  his.  He  shone  as  the  sun  of  every 
company  in  which  he  was  placed,  and  in  its  sinking  that 
sun  shone  brightest.  "In  company  with  a  friend,"  says 
Bishop  McTyeire,  "I  called  on  him  during  the  last 
months  of  his  life.  He  received  us  in  his  usual  bland 
and  courtly  and  affectionate  way.  Our  inquiries  after 
his  health  were  answered  by  quoting  in  his  finest  style 
from  Ecclesiastes,  'The  keepers  of  the  house  do  trem- 
ble, and  the  strong  men  bow  themselves,  and  the  grind- 
ers cease  because  they  are  few,  and  those  that  look  out 
of  the  windows  are  darkened ;'  then,  touching  his  trem- 
bling hand  to  his  head :  'You  see,  brethren,  the  almond 


The  Evening  Bell.  275 

tree  flourishes/  On  our  leaving,  and  prayer  being  pro- 
posed, we  intimated  that  he  should  remain  seated.  'No ; 
let  me  get  to  my  knees' — and,  one  on  each  side,  we 
helped  him  down  and  up." 

The  home  life  of  Bishop  Soule,  like  his  life  in  the 
Church  and  before  the  public,  was  one  of  faith.  It  is 
remembered  by  the  reader  that  in  the  early  years  of  his 
itinerancy  he  was  much  of  the  time  a  stranger  to  his 
own  household.  His  long  journeys  as  circuit  rider  or 
presiding  elder  through  the  wilderness  reaches  of 
Maine  kept  him  often  so  long  from  home  that  on  re- 
turning the  younger  children  did  not  recognize  him. 
More  than  once  he  found  in  the  cradle  a  babe  whom  he 
had  not  before  seen.  And  yet,  through  faith  and  pa- 
tience of  the  Spirit,  husband  and  wife  made  home  a 
temple  of  love  and  joy.  Who  shall  write  the  life  of 
that  mother  and  wife?  It  is  written  in  his ;  in  the  rec- 
ord which  he  has  left  for  American  Methodism  they 
twain  are  one. 

Eleven  children  were  born  to  Joshua  and  Jane  Allen 
Soule — namely,  Marian,  Joshua,  Amiba,  Jane,  Ernes- 
tine, James,  Joseph,  A.,  Sarah,  William  McKendree, 
Martha,  and  George.  The  first  was  born  in  1804,  and 
the  last  in  1824.  Martha  and  William  McKendree 
were  twins.  These  children  have  all  long  since  been 
gathered  to  their  parents  in  death,  and,  so  far  as  I  can 
learn,  only  three  grandchildren  survive.  These  are : 
Prof.  E.  S.  Clark,  superintendent  of  the  public  schools 
of  Henderson,  Ky.,  a  gentleman  of  fine  talents  and  high 
character,  a  son  of  Jane  Soule  Clark,  the  Bishop's 
third  daughter;  the  other  two  are  Mrs.  Haden,  wife  of 
the  Rev.  T.  H.  Haden,  of  our  Japan  Mission,  and  Miss 


276  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

Florence  Conwell,  the  "sister  superior"  of  Wesley  Hall, 
gratefully  remembered  by  very  many  of  the  young 
preachers  of  Methodism  who  have  received  their  theo- 
logical training  in  that  hospitable  school  of  the  proph- 
ets. These  ladies  are  the  daughters  of  Martha  Soule 
Conwell,  twin  sister  of  William  McKendree  Soule. 
Their  father,  Dr.  Conwell,  was  at  one  time  a  popular 
and  successful  practitioner  in  Nashville,  but  died  a 
score  or  more  years  ago. 

From  1808,  the  year  of  the  meeting  of  the  first  dele- 
gated General  Conference,  to  1854  Bishop  Soule  was 
never  absent  from  any  sitting  of  the  general  body.  But 
when  the  ever-memorable  General  Conference  of  1866 
met  in  New  Orleans,  he  was  absent,  being,  though  still 
in  the  body,  too  feeble  to  take  the  long  journey  from 
his  Tennessee  home.  On  the  second  day  of  the  session 
Dr.  John  B.  McFerrin  presented  a  communication  from 
the  Bishop  conveying  his  salutations  and  blessings, 
whereupon  the  Conference  passed  a  resolution  of  re- 
sponse which  was  entered  upon  the  Journal,  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Conference  has  received  with 
deep  emotion  the  communication  from  the  Rev.  Bishop  Soule 
through  Dr.  McFerrin,  and  rejoices  to  know  that  he  is  still 
sustained  and  comforted  by  the  consolations  of  our  holy  re- 
ligion which  he  has  so  long  lived  to  preach  and  to  exemplify 
in  his  useful  and  honored  life,  and  that  this  Conference  tenders 
to  our  beloved  Senior  Bishop  its  kindest  sympathies  and  prefers 
for  him  its  warmest  prayers. 

Ten  days  later  the  Journal  contained  another  and 
sadder  record: 

Special  prayers  were  offered  for  the  venerable  Bishop  Soule, 


The  Evening  Bell  277 

Bishop  Pierce  having  announced  the  receipt  of  the  following 
telegram :  "Bishop  Soule  very  ill — can  live  but  a  few  days." 
An  announcement  which  was  received  by  the  Conference  with 
great  emotion. 

It  seemed  a  fitting  time  for  the  great  man  to  depart, 
but  the  hour  of  his  crossing  over  was  to  be  delayed  for 
nearly  one  full  year.  He  was  to  be  permitted  to  have 
rehearsed  to  him,  and  himself  to  ponder,  all  the  things 
done  by  his  sons  in  the  gospel  in  their  great  moot  after 
the  cataclysm  of  war.  That  he  so  weighed  and  consid- 
ered their  work  and  that  he  approved  it  is  known.  Es- 
pecially would  he  be  gratified  at  the  fact  that  his  own 
wing  of  the  Church  had  been  the  first  in  Episcopal 
Methodism  to  recognize  the  parity  of  laymen  in  the 
lawmaking  assembly.  As  far  back  as  1820  he  had  ex- 
pressed to  Bishop  McKendree  his  friendliness  toward 
any  reasonable  reform  in  the  Church  that  might  be 
brought  about  constitutionally.  Although  by  nature  a 
leader  and  by  opportunity  a  lawgiver,  he  was  in  all  and 
through  all  a  commoner.  One  of  his  strong  appeals 
against  the  hurtful  and  reactionary  legislation  of  1824 
was:  "Will  the  people  indorse  it?"  He  fully  satisfied 
himself  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  laity  supported  his 
position.  The  ripeness  of  time  having  brought  lay  rep- 
resentation, he  could  rejoice  in  it  with  the  rest. 

The  General  Conference  of  1866  called  four  new 
members  to  the  episcopacy — namely,  William  May 
Wightman,  Enoch  Mather  Marvin,  David  Seth  Dog- 
gett,  and  Holland  Nimmons  McTyeire.  These  names 
bring  us  to  the  beginning  days  of  this  generation  of 
Methodists.  The  youngest  of  these  became,  as  far  as 
could  be,  the  successor  of  his  reverenced  senior.    With 


278  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

a  mind  bent  toward  law  and  government,  with  a  pro- 
found reverence  for  the  constitution  and  the  ideals  of 
Methodism,  Bishop  McTyeire  was  marked  as  the  man 
who  was  to  replace  to  his  generation  the  services  of 
the  great  rabbi  whose  days  were  near  their  final  ebb. 
Fortune  planned  that  they  should  be  closely  associated 
during  the  closing  scenes.  As  a  son  to  his  father,  the 
younger  Bishop  watched,  communed  with,  and  set  him- 
self to  obey  the  dying  behests  of  his  elder.  It  was  his 
to  witness  the  letter  of  translation,  and  his  to  speak  the 
words  of  eulogy  and  memory  above  the  dust  entombed. 
As  the  mantle  of  McKendree  had  fallen  upon  Soule, 
so  the  mantle  of  Soule  fell  upon  McTyeire.  Having 
himself  defended  and  cherished  the  book  of  the  law, 
he  gave  it  into  the  hands  of  a  worthy  champion.  It  re- 
mains yet  for  a  reproach  to  be  visited  upon  that  book 
in  the  house  of  that  Methodism  to  which  the  illustrious 
Soule  adhered. 

With  the  opening  of  a  new  quadrennium  he  sent  a 
message  to  his  colleagues:  'Tush  forward  the  great 
work."  He  saw  the  fruitful,  prophetic  future  before 
his  people.  The  vision  of  it  mingled  with  the  light  of 
his  own  translation. 

The  bleak  winds  of  March  in  Tennessee  were  moan- 
ing through  the  leafless  maples  and  heeling  up  the  sere 
pasture  lands  when  the  summons  came  to  the  long- 
waiting  saint.  On  March  2,  1867,  he  was  attacked  with 
dysentery.  This  was  Saturday,  and  on  Tuesday  he  be- 
gan to  sink  rapidly ;  it  was  plain  that  the  end  had  come. 
Of  this  he  himself  seemed  certain,  and  constantly  asked 
the  hour.  This  was  read  to  him  from  the  large  silver 
watch  that  hung  at  the  head  of  his  bed,  and  which  he 


The  Evening  Bell.  279 

had  so  long  worn  that  it  was  all  but  identified  with  his 
person. 

"Do  you  feel  any  pain,  Bishop?"  asked  his  col- 
league, Bishop  McTyeire.  "None  at  all,"  was  the  quiet 
reply.  But  the  question  being  renewed  near  the  turn 
of  the  night,  the  answer  was :  "A  little — not  much." 
Just  before  midnight,  seeing  imminent  signs  of  disso- 
lution, his  colleague  asked:  "Bishop,  you  have  long 
preached  the  gospel  to  others ;  is  all  now  clear  before 
you?"  The  answer  was  in  low  but  confident  tones: 
"Yes,  yes." 

This  being  a  characteristic  form  of  reply  with  him, 
the  younger  bishop  supposed  his  question  was  not  fully 
understood,  and  so  asked:  "Do  you  understand  me, 
Bishop?"  "I  do,  sir,"  was  the  reply,  which  left  no 
room  for  doubt. 

The  remainder  of  the  story  may  best  be  given  in 
Bishop  McTyeire's  own  words: 

About  one  o'clock  he  seemed  to  be  passing  under  the  cloud 
and  disappearing.  I  said:  "Is  all  right  still?"  Then  for  the 
last  time  did  he  throw  that  peculiar  emphasis  upon  his  words : 
"All  right,  sir;  all  right." 

At  intervals  we  gave  him  water,  which  he  swallowed  with 
an  appearance  of  thirst.  Soon  after  drinking  it,  about  two 
o'clock,  when  his  voice,  though  feeble,  was  distinct,  seeing  him 
cross  his  hands  on  his  breast,  I  asked:  "Are  you  praying?" 
He  replied,  "Not  now,"  and  never  spake  more. 

I  was  surprised  at  these  words;  they  were  not  what  I  ex- 
pected, for  I  knew  he  understood  me  and  meant  what  he  said. 
But  as  I  looked  at  him  lying  there  and  thought  on  the  words, 
"not  now,"  they  began  to  appear  right,  very  right.  His  work 
was  done;  the  night  had  come  when  no  man  can  work.  He 
was  quiescent.  The  servant  who  has  loitered  away  the  day 
begins  to  be  very  busy  when  the  shadows  lengthen.     There  is 


280  Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 

such  a  thing  as  having  nothing  to  do  but  to  die.  Woe  to  the 
man  who  has  his  praying  to  do  and  his  dying  at  the  same 
time !  He  that  believeth  shall  not  make  haste.  Not  praying 
now;  that  was  done  with,  and  the  time  for  praising  would 
soon  set  in.  Like  a  ship,  brave  and  stanch,  that  has  weathered 
the  storms  and  buffeted  the  waves,  the  voyage  is  ended;  and 
as  it  nears  the  land,  the  busy  wheels  cease  their  revolutions, 
and  under  the  headway  and  momentum  previously  acquired  it 
glides  into  port. 

The  change  came.  The  family  were  called  in  and  stood 
around  as  the  silver  cord  was  loosed  without  a  struggle  or 
groan  or  the  appearance  of  any  pain.  He  had  put  off  this 
tabernacle !    Absent  from  the  body,  present  with  the  Lord ! 

The  first  interment  of  Bishop  Soule's  remains  was  in 
the  old  City  Cemetery,  famous  as  the  sleeping  place  of 
the  founders  and  first  fathers  of  the  Athens  of  the 
South.  There  his  dust  rested  amongst  kindred  urns  for 
a  period  of  ten  years,  when,  by  request  of  Church  of- 
ficials and  the  consent  of  his  family,  it,  together  with 
the  dust  of  Bishop  McKendree,  which  had  reposed  for 
forty  years  in  a  grave  in  Sumner  County,  was  removed 
to  a  sepulture  provided  upon  the  campus  of  the  Van- 
derbilt  University.  The  spot  is  one  of  the  most  restful 
that  can  be  imagined.  It  lies  swarded  in  blue  grass 
and  red  clover  under  the  shadows  of  fragrant  trees 
planted  a  third  of  a  century  ago  by  the  hand  of  a  col- 
league. About  it,  but  at  silence-conserving  distances, 
rise  the  classic  buildings  of  the  University,  glimpsed 
through  the  foliage.  But  a  few  paces  away  is  the 
school  of  the  prophets.  It  was  on  a  glorious  day  of 
October,  in  the  year  1876,  that  this  soil  was  opened  and 
the  ashes  of  the  two  fathers  of  the  Church  were  low- 
ered by  reverent  hands  to  a  rest  that  they  will  doubt- 


The  Evening  Bell.  281 


less  keep  until  the  trump  of  the  archangel  shall  pro- 
claim "the  resurrection  of  the  body."  The  bells  in  the 
twin  towers  of  the  old  University  building  tolled  a  sol- 
emn requiem  as  the  funereal  act  proceeded.  At  the 
ceremony  of  the  spreading  of  superficial  dust,  and  amid 
a  silence  of  nature's  making,  the  bells  having  ceased 
their  solemn  monodies,  Bishop  McTyeire  delivered  a 
touching  and  eloquent  eulogy  on  the  great  leaders  of 
the  Church,  who,  being  knit  together  as  one  soul  in 
life,  were  now  to  finish  together  their  sleep  of  death. 
The  modern  city  has  stretched  out  its  living  arms  and 
embraced  the  once  suburban  campus.  With  roar  of 
wheels  and  tramp  of  feet,  an  urban  life  now  sweeps 
miles  beyond  the  protecting  walls,  but  the  quiet  of 
their  resting  place  is  as  it  was  at  the  beginning  these 
four  and  thirty  years  ago.  "Here  sleep,  side  by  side, 
the  Cavalier  and  the  Puritan — one  in  Christ." 

Subsequent  to  the  reinterment  of  the  remains  of  the 
two  bishops,  a  monument  of  South  Carolina  granite  in 
the  shape  of  a  massive  pulpit  surmounted  by  a  Bible 
and  hymn  book  was  erected  over  the  spot.  On  Febru- 
ary 15,  1889,  Bishop  McTyeire  was  himself  called  from 
earthly  labors,  and  was  given  sepulture  with  the  two 
mighty  ones  whose  deeds  and  faith  he  had  extolled  in 
his  strength.  McKendree,  Soule,  McTyeire — these  are 
the  links  that  carry  the  chain  of  our  spiritual  heredity 
back  to  Asbury. 


INDEX. 


Abolitionism,    298,    210,    211, 

216. 
African  Church,   160. 
African   Mission,   214. 
Alexander,   Gross,  228. 
Alexander,  Robert,  93. 
American  Bible  Society,   119. 
Andrew,    Bishop    James    C, 

184,  219,  224,  229,  234,  235. 
Armstrong's      History,      165, 

173. 
Arthur,  William,  203. 
Asbury,  Bishop,  18,  24,  25,  26, 

31,   38,   42,   54,   55,   57,   63, 

76;  death  of,  107. 
Avon  Settlement,  15,  18,  28. 

Bangs,    Nathan,    29,   64,    108, 

118,  131,  135,  210. 
Bascom,     Bishop,     229,     257, 

267. 
Bishops'   meeting,    177. 
Black,  William,  25,  193. 
Book  Concern,  114,  116,  230. 
Bruce,   Philip,  78. 

Camp  meetings,  61. 

Capers,  Bishop,  133,  134,  136, 

138,  178,  194,  218,  260. 
Chartered  Fund,  230. 
Clarke,  Adam,  194. 
Coke,    Thomas,    46,    74,    106, 

192. 
Constitution,     Methodist,    21, 

71,  79,  80,  84. 


Cooper,    Ezekiel,    77,   78,    81, 

117. 
Cox,  Melville  B.,  215. 

Deeds,  Church,  III. 
Denny,  C,  165. 
Dickens,  John,  116,  118. 
Dixon,  the  Rev.  Dr.,  86,  205. 
Dow,  Neal,  96. 
Dunwoddy,   Samuel,   134. 
Durbin,  John,  197. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  24. 
Elliott,  Charles,  78,  85,  230. 
Embury,   Philip,   115. 
Emory,  Bishop,  136,  164,  184, 
193. 

Fisk,  Wilbur,  176,  189. 
Fowler,  Littleton,  93,  195. 

Garrettson,  F.,   131. 

General      Conference,      First 

Southern,  255. 
George,  Bishop,  83,  135,   137, 

138,   139,  147,  174,   180. 
Ghent,  Treaty  of,  100. 

Hamline,    Bishop,   220. 
Hannah,  Rev.  John,  194,  203. 
Harding  Case,  217,  219. 
Hedding,  Elijah,  92,  130,  170, 
177,  245. 

Iron  Duke,  204. 

Janes,  Bishop,  245,  246. 

Kennebec  District,  65,  66,  99. 

(283) 


284 


Life  of  Joshua  Soule. 


Lawrence,  Captain,  98,  99. 
Lee,  Jesse,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29, 

30,  40,  41,  57,  75,  97- 
Louisville     Convention,     234, 

235,  239,  240,  243. 
Lynn,   50,   97. 

Maine,    Province   of,    14,   39. 

44,  53. 
Martha's  Vineyard,  10. 
Mayflower,  9. 
McKendree,    Bishop,    45,    57, 

82,   91,    no,    122,    131,    137, 

141,  172,  182;  death  of,  186. 
McTyeire,  Bishop,  21,  33,  45. 
Merritt,  T.,  40,  42,  47,  134. 
Methodist  Magazine,  114,  128. 
Methodist  Protestant  Church, 

40,  174,  212. 
Methodist  Pulpit,  South,  179. 
Missionary  Society,   120,   122, 

123,  176. 
Morris,  Thomas  A.,   188-190, 

247,  249-254. 
Mudge,  Enoch,  29,  30,  33,  40, 

56. 

Name  of  Church,  124,  125, 
126. 

Nantucket  Circuit,  10,  55. 

Needham  Circuit,  53,  54. 

New  York  Christian  Advo- 
cate and  Journal,  48. 

Newton,  Dr.  R.,  196. 

Norris  and  Snorr,  209. 

O'Kelly,  James,  40,  105. 
Ostrander,  D.,  50,  63,  140. 

Paine,  Bishop,  133. 
Papers,  Historic,  112. 


Peck,   Bishop,  224. 
Pickering,  George,  52,  63,  77, 

100. 
Pierce,  Bishop,  224. 
Pierce,  Rev.  Lovick,  261. 
Plan  of  Separation,  230,  239, 

243,  260,  262. 
Portland  Circuit,  44,  45,  48. 
Presiding  Eldership,  102,  107, 

140,   169. 

Randolph-Macon  College,  175. 
Readfield   Circuit,  27,  29,   39, 

4i,  44,  53- 
Reece,  Rev.  R.,  166,  194. 
Republican    Methodists,    106. 
Reserve  delegates,  95. 
Resolutions,    Suspended,    148, 

155,   156,   158. 
Revivals,  Typical,  49. 
Roberts,  Bishop,  114,  142,  174, 

215. 
Rollo,  10. 
Roszel,    Stephen    G.,    77,   83, 

138. 
Ruter  College,  94. 
Ruter,  Martin,  93. 
Ryerson,  Rev.  W.,  206. 

Sabin,  Elijah  R.,  52. 
Sargent,  Thomas  B.,  196. 
Sargent,  Thomas  R,  52. 
Sea   Kings,  9. 
Slavery,  187. 
Smith,  Charles  W.,  87. 
Smith,  Henry,  164. 
Snethen,   Nicholas,   40. 
Soule,  Captain,  15,  16,  18,  30, 
37- 


Index. 


285 


Soule,  George,  9. 

Soule,  Joshua,  18,  28,  30,  31, 
38,  39,  41,  42,  53,  58,  61,  69, 
77,  78,  86,  89,  100,  103,  no, 
119,  127,  131,  146,  150,  180, 
185,  189,  196,  197,  203,  205, 
213,  221,  258,  263,  264,  271 ; 
death  of,  279,  280. 

Soule,  Mary,  17. 

Soule  University,  94. 

Soules,  The,  10,  14,  41. 

Soulis,   Sir  John,   12. 

Southwestern  University,  94. 

Sowle,  George,   13. 

Stebbins,  C,  33,  36. 

Stevens,  Dr.  A.,  45,  56. 

Strawbridge,  Robert,  25. 

Stubb's  Chronicle,  II. 

Summers,  T.  O.,  21. 

Superintendency,  General,  103. 


Taylor,    J.,    32,    40,    41,    42, 

52. 
Tigert,  John  J.,  130,  156. 

Vasey,  Thomas,  102,  103. 

Waden,    11. 

Waugh,  Bishop,  109,  134,  164, 

180,    189. 
Wells,  J.,  138. 
Wesley,   Charles,  24. 
Wesley,  John,  25,  28,  31,  38. 
Whatcoat,  Bishop,  52,  54,  67, 

75,  102. 
Williams,   Robert,   115. 
Winans,  William,  257. 

Yalalee,  Robert,  31,  32. 
Ygdrasil,  II. 

Zion's  Herald,  48. 


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